Aaron Brown: Sub-Saharan Africa is the world’s deadliest place to give birth. Each year, over a quarter of a million women die in childbirth in Africa.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the world’s deadliest place to give birth. Each year, over a quarter of a million women die in childbirth in Africa.

North of South Africa by the ocean, Mozambique, is no exception.

Outside the national capital Maputo, there are only seven obstetricians.

As a result, women in Mozambique have a 160 times greater risk of dying from complications during pregnancy and delivery than those in the developed world.

In an effort to combat its extreme maternal death rates, Mozambique launched a bold program.

In 2004, twenty-nine women embarked on a four-year course in delivery techniques combined with training in advanced surgery.

Some are already nurses, others only have a high school diploma, yet they will learn to perform Cesareans, hysterectomies and other life-saving procedures.

In 1984, Dr. Vaz and his colleagues initiated a special government program to train mid-level health care professionals, like nurses, in general emergency surgery.

In 1984, Dr. Vaz and his colleagues initiated a special government program to train mid-level health care professionals, like nurses, in general emergency surgery.

These forerunners to the midwife surgeons became known as ‘técnicos de cirurgia” and today perform most of the surgery in the countryside.

But maternal mortality remained high. So the program expanded to include the training of midwives in surgery in 2004.

Fernando Vaz (subtitle): These are the nurses we’re educating. They’re responsible for all the procedures a pregnant women needs and if they have to perform surgery in any of these situations, they can do it. They will solve 90 or maybe 95 percent of the complications. But the other five percent is for the skilled doctors.

Aaron Brown: Mozambique is now one of the few countries on track to meet the UN’s 15-year goal of cutting the maternal death rate by 75 percent.

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