Date Of Article: 6/12/2002
To Print This Story Goto File > Print
<<Back
BLM launches antenatal care with pomp
By: Phillip Banda
Over a thousand people lined along the road at Mchinji boma while many others sat around Banja La Mtsogolo clinic, getting entertained to traditional dances and comedies during the launch of antenatal care services at the clinic on Saturday. Ministry of Health Education Band members, clad in traditional attire with BLM emblem, curtain-raised the fun with songs on HIV/Aids, family planning and the importance of antenatal care. Alfred Azizi with his travelling theatre was the toast of the day. Mchinji being a district where nyau is danced, Azizi joked about a masked dancer which was caught by a crocodile. When Ingoma dancers from T/A Zulu in the district came on stage with the war dance, they found an already stirred crowd. Their rigorous dance impressed not only patrons from Mchinji but even those who came from Blantyre. The dancers, covered in animal skins and doing their act as if they are getting ready for war, shrill whistled and pounded the ground heavily with their feet. According to BLM programme director Walker Jiyani, the organisation aims at uplifting the lives of women in the country. He said at the launch that although many people have known BLM for its family planning campaign, it does not mean the organisation does not care for those who want children. “We want to assist those willing to have children. We should take care of them throughout the period they nurture their pregnancies. We have noted through research that of every 100,000 women that go to hospitals to deliver, 1,120 die during child birth,” said Jiyani. MP for the constituency Ludoviko Shati hailed BLM for its efforts to save women’s lives in the country. “There are problems in government hospitals. Expectant mothers stand queues for so long before they are helped. BLM has taken a good gesture because it would reduce pressure in government hospitals,” said Shati, who is also deputy minister for Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs.
<<Back
© 2001-2002 Nation Publications Limited, All Rights Reserved