Across Africa, healthcare workers and activists are calling for more help for pregnant women, as concerns rise about maternal mortality rates increasing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Last Monday, at Zimbabwe’s Harare Central Hospital, seven babies were stillborn after maternity wards became overwhelmed during a coronavirus-related nurses’ strike. Medical staff and aid workers expect the pandemic to lead to a rise in pregnancies in many African countries, particularly among girls and young women. “Covid-19 worsened all health systems,” Nazarius Mbona Tumwesigye, an epidemiology professor at Makerere University in Kampala, told The Irish Times. Pregnant women can phone a toll-free number to be connected.

Source: The Irish Times August 02, 2020 13:52 UTC