Zimbabwe desperate childbirths amid health strike

Описание: (18 Nov 2019) Midwives in Zimbabwe are on strike, forcing women to find help from elsewhere when they give birth.
When contractions became unbearably painful on Friday, 18-year-old Perseverance Kanyoza rushed to the local maternity hospital in the capital, Harare. But the doors were closed and, with no money for private health care, panic set in.
A hospital guard directed her to an apartment less than 500 metres (0.3 miles) away in the poor suburb of Mbare. Thirteen hours later, she gave birth to a baby girl.
The 'midwife' was a 72 year old grandmother, Esther Zinyoro Gwena, who has no formal training and claims to be guided only by the Holy Spirit.
She operates from her own cramped apartment.
"It was a miracle," said new mother Kanyoza, cradling her baby.
"I was worried," she said. "But when I found the girl who told us to come here, I was relieved, then I gave birth to my baby."
With Zimbabwe battling its worst economic crisis in more than a decade, doctors have been on strike for more than two months.
Nurses, including midwives, working for health facilities run by the Harare City Council, joined the strike two weeks ago.
The government has so far fired more than 300 doctors and plans to dismiss more for participating in the strike.
Meanwhile, pregnant women, like other patients, are stranded and the majority can't afford private health care.
In desperation, many are forced into home births, where local community women known as "birth attendants" deliver babies, often using their bare hands, and with no sterilisation or adequate post-natal care in place.
Nonetheless, Gwena has become a local hero, although some feel this only highlights the level of collapse of a health sector that was once regarded as one of the best in Africa.
For Gwena, who says she doesn't charge for her services, helping stranded pregnant women is a personal mission.
"I don't have anything to use, or proper place to use, but the Holy Spirit helps me," she said.
No mother or baby had died under her care, she added.
Gwena said she has been delivering up to 20 babies a day since the local maternity hospital closed a fortnight ago.
The flow of pregnant women arriving at her apartment is unrelenting.
On Saturday, four expectant mothers writhed in pain while sitting on blankets on the floor in the tiny lounge-turned-maternity ward.
Inside the room, no medical equipment was visible except for boxes of cotton and gloves donated by the president's wife, who paid a visit after Gwena's work made headlines in the local state media.
Expectant mothers are asked to bring their own razor blades, cord clamps and other items.
Senior health officials visited the apartment on Saturday. Gwena told them she had delivered 15 babies overnight and urgently needed more supplies.
Dr Prosper Chonzi, Harare's health director, said women were increasingly turning to backstreet midwives as a result of the strike.
"It is very dire," he said. "I didn't realise that this situation was that bad."
But women queueing up to have their babies in Gwena's apartment were just grateful she was there.
Kanyoza, the new mother, said as she headed home that she and her baby could have died had it not been for Gwena's help.

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