Ministry of Health deputy director of reproductive health Henry Phiri has called for partnerships with organisations in the health sector to fill gaps in the provision of maternal and neonatal health services.

Speaking on the sidelines of a trainer of trainers workshop for 26 health workers from Nsanje and Chikwawa, organised by Last Mile Health in Blantyre, he said the maternal and neonatal health indicators remain high

A facilitator leads a training

Said Phiri: “The maternal mortality in Malawi is 439 per 100 000 live births according to records. The estimates now are around 349 per 100 000 live births.

“Our goal as a country is to get to around 110 per 100 000 live births by the year 2030 and to do that we need to partner with organisations and Last Mile Health is one of them.”

He said the partnerships will help increase access to sexual and reproductive health services to people in hardest-to-reach areas.

“We are working with Last Mile Health to train community health workers, health surveillance assistants and community midwifery assistants in community-based maternal and neonatal health,” said Phiri.

Last Mile Health country director Dalitso Baloyi said his organisation is dedicated to saving lives through provision of health services even to those in the remotest parts of the country.

He said the 26 trainer of trainers are expected to train 450 community health workers in Nsanje and Chikwawa. Last Mile Health is working in Malawi, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

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