DRC offers free maternity care to cut death rate among mothers and babies

Pregnant women across the Democratic Republic of the Congo are to be offered free healthcare in an effort to cut the country’s high rates of maternal and neonatal deaths.

Women in 13 out of 26 regions in the country will, by the end of the year, be entitled to free services during pregnancy and for one month after childbirth. Babies will receive free healthcare for their first 28 days under the scheme, which the government plans to extend to the rest of DRC – although there is no timetable for that yet.

However, health workers have raised concerns that hospitals and medical centres are ill-equipped to cope with any increased demand on services. Some told the Guardian there were not enough staff, facilities or equipment to successfully introduce the $113m (£93m) programme, which is supported by the World Bank.

The rollout of the programme comes amid nationwide strikes by nurses, midwives, technicians and hospital administrative staff, who are calling for higher pay and better conditions.

Congo has one of the highest number of maternal and neonatal deaths in the world. Latest figures record the maternal morality ratio at 547 deaths for every 100,000 live births, and its neonatal rate – the number of babies dying before 28 days of life – at 27 per 1,000 live births. 

The minister of public health, Roger Kamba Mulamba, said the programme would free women from a “prison sentence”.

He said: “Mothers today get healthcare without fear when they are pregnant. Babies today do not die because they have no access to antibiotics. Mothers today do not die because they cannot afford to pay for a caesarean delivery.”

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Source: The Guardian, 6 November 2023