Source: East Coast Radio
The number of ambulances that are dedicated to maternity emergencies are set to be increased as part of a continent-wide campaign to prevent the death of mothers and babies in childbirth.

The programme is called the Campaign on Accelerated Reduction in Maternal Mortality in Africa.

It will be launched for the first time in the country at Osindisweni Hospital, north of Durban, today.

A Human Rights Watch report revealed last year that nearly 5 000 mothers die in South Africa every year due to pregnancy-related issues.

The main causes have been HIV-related infections, hypertension and excessive bleeding.

The KZN health Department's Neil Moran has told Newswatch that part of the campaign will include having a fleet of around 40 ambulances dedicated to maternal emergencies.

"These ambulances would be placed at strategic sites around the province, where they are most required. They will only be for problems in pregnancy and problems with a newborn; for transporting those patients. At times, when there is an emergency and a pregnant woman is, for example, at a clinic facility where there is no doctor, and she needs to be transferred to a hospital where she can have an operation, there can be very long delays in the emergency transport between the institutions."

The department has also created special "waiting homes" - where women with risky pregnancies can stay until they reach full term. Health care workers in clinics across the province are also set to receive extra training to deal with maternal emergencies.