NGO in plea for education on prenatal care

A women's organisation in the Republic of Congo, the Association Coeur de Mere, has called for increased sensitisation of women on prenatal care, saying the maternal and infant mortality figures in the country were "worrying". The association's president, Monique Dzielo Dzila, appealed on Wednesday to the public and development partners to join hands in intensifying the education of Congolese women on the importance of prenatal care. Maternal mortality in the country is put at between 890 and 900 for every 100,000 live births, while infant mortality stands at 82 for every 100,000 live births. Dzielo said these figures showed that the situation was worrying, and that the risk factor that threatened the health of pregnant women and infants must be detected and eliminated. On Monday the NGO, in partnership with UNICEF, organised a seminar on the sensitisation of women of childbearing age on the importance of prenatal care. Talks at the seminar focused on the need to reinforce the capacity of midwives to give improved health care. "I have not wasted the chance to draw to the public's attention the gravity of the situation. Almost every day we register deaths due to negligence of our girls, of our sisters", Dzielo said at the seminar.