Lawmakers urged to strengthen maternal health oversight

ARUSHA: PARLIAMENTARIANS have been urged to strengthen oversight of health services, ensure accountability in public spending and protect dedicated budgets for women, children and adolescents to reduce preventable deaths.

The call was made by Deputy Head of the African Union (AU) Champions Secretariat, Dr Sunday Dominico, during a high level side event on reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health held on the margins of the 153rd Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly in Arusha, which concluded yesterday.

Dr Dominico said stronger parliamentary oversight was essential to ensuring that health policies, approved budgets and recommendations from maternal and child death reviews translated into practical improvements.

He said although many African countries investigate maternal and child deaths and document their causes, implementation of recommendations remained a major challenge.

“We conduct good reviews of deaths across the continent. We document the causes and the actions that need to be taken, but what is missing is follow-up on the implementation of those actions so that the next mother or child can be saved,” he said.

Dr Dominico warned that without effective information and accountability systems, recommendations could remain on paper, allowing preventable deaths to continue.

He said health facilities needed adequate health workers, essential medicines, medical equipment and functional systems to provide safe and quality services.

He identified excessive bleeding during childbirth, high blood pressure during pregnancy, anaemia and newborn complications caused by oxygen deprivation during delivery as among the factors contributing to preventable deaths.

The official urged MPs to use their legislative, budgetary and oversight powers to ensure that government policies were implemented and resources reached priority services.

He said dedicated budgets for women, children, newborns and adolescents should be allocated and protected throughout programme implementation.

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Dr Dominico cited Tanzania’s efforts to advance universal health coverage as an example other African countries could learn from.

He said stronger accountability and investment would accelerate President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s Three Zeros Campaign, which seeks to eliminate home deliveries without skilled assistance, preventable maternal and newborn deaths, and children missing vaccination.

Meanwhile, Doris Mollel Foundation founder and chief executive officer Doris Mollel urged parliamentarians to collaborate with civil society organisations to strengthen laws and policies protecting newborns.

She said governments could not achieve sustainable improvements in maternal and newborn health without support from nongovernmental organisations and other social-sector actors.

“We as advocates understand that no government is able to work well without good support from us, the social sector and NGOs,” she said.

Ms Mollel recalled discussions between civil society representatives and government officials in 2022 that identified gaps in newborn health legislation.

She urged Parliament, the Government and civil society to sustain cooperation, use evidence from communities and translate recommendations into effective laws, adequate financing and timely healthcare for mothers and newborns.