New Maternity Annex Improves Healthcare in Mutwizi

In Mbala District, Northern Zambia, expectant mothers and newborns at Mutwizi Rural Health Post now receive better care thanks to the new Maternity Annex supported by World Vision. This facility enhances maternal health services for mothers and children in Mutwizi, a rural community located far from most social amenities, including healthcare.

Tilabilenji Nalomba, the Nurse in Charge at Mutwizi, explains how things have changed: “Before, mothers hesitated to come here because the old clinic lacked privacy and was overcrowded,” she says, “There was a time I had to help a mother deliver on the floor because there was no space. It was a very difficult situation.”

The new Maternity Annex addresses these challenges with simple yet life-changing improvements. It features clean, private delivery rooms that ensure mothers are treated with dignity. Running water in every ward helps prevent infections, a feature the old clinic lacked. Additionally, the facility now has enough beds to accommodate all mothers, eliminating the need to turn anyone away.

“Now, women come early because they know we can properly care for them,” Tilabilenji explains. The annex provides a safe, private environment for deliveries. “As a result, more mothers are choosing to deliver here instead of giving birth at home,” she adds.

World Vision Zambia has empowered the Mutwizi community with critical, lifesaving medical equipment. When a baby struggles to breathe during delivery, an oxygen machine provides immediate assistance, eliminating the need for a risky, over-hour-long ambulance drive over gravel roads to the district hospital. Premature babies now have a better chance of survival, thanks to the new incubator at the facility, which helps keep them warm.

“Before, we lost babies that we might have saved,” Tilabilenji reflects. “With the equipment that World Vision has provided, babies now have a much greater chance of growth and thriving.”

The clinic has also been equipped with a solar power system that supports medical equipment and provides lighting for staff and mothers during childbirth. A mechanised water system supplies water to the bathrooms, enabling mothers to practice good hygiene throughout their stay.

“I can now give my patients the care I was trained to provide because this environment enables me to do so,” Tilabilenji affirms.

The Mutwizi community has embraced the safety of clinic-based deliveries, establishing laws that discourage home births, as the maternity annex offers comprehensive maternal services to meet the needs of expectant mothers.