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Country action
Zambia
Photo © 2022 UNICEF/ Kinny Siakachoma
Registered Nurse assisting a mother setup for Kangaroo Mother Care at the University Teaching Hospital.
Every Woman Every Newborn in Zambia
Download the full profile with additional key demographics, progress against milestones, and more.
This profile was developed in May 2023, using data from 2018-2023.
Photo © 2009 UNICEF/ Christine Nesbitt
Vincent Mumba, newly born, lies on his mother’s chest in the labour ward of the Chelstone Clinic. Martha Mumba, his mother, is HIV-positive and participates in the PMTCT programme at the clinic. Vincent will receive prophylactic ARVs twice a day for the first seven days after birth and, at six weeks, will be tested for HIV.
National mortality targets
Maternal mortality ratio
100 per 100,000 live births by 2026
Stillbirth rate
12 per 1,000 live births by 2026
Neonatal mortality rate
12 per 1,000 live births by 2026
Progress to meet the national maternal, newborn mortality and stillbirth reduction targets
Photo © 2023 UNICEF/ Tiwine Muchipa
Mother Mary Zulu (28 years old) and Registered Nurse Faides Zulu (26 years old)
Progress to meet Every Woman Every Newborn Everywhere coverage targets
MNH Acceleration Plan highlights
- Adopt and implement guidelines for intrapartum care.
- Build the capacity of primary health care providers and community-based volunteers across prioritized facilities and districts on community-based newborn care.
- Build the capacity of data managers, programme and facility staff to record and report quality of care indicators.
- Integrate reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health intervention packages in the national strategy for universal health care.
- Orient and engage Parliamentarians, traditional leaders and local authorities on Emergency obstetric and newborn care.
Photo © 2023 UNICEF/ Tiwine Muchipa
28 year old mother Mary Zulu with her newborn baby at St Francis Hospital Kangaroo Mother Care unit.
Photo © 2022 UNICEF/ Kinny Siakachoma
Kangaroo Mother Care
Quality of care in Zambia
As part of its efforts to reduce maternal and newborn mortality and stillbirths, Zambia is taking steps to improve the quality of maternal and newborn health. These include:
- Build capacity of health care providers from hard to reach, prioritized facilities on post-partum haemorrhage prevention and management.
- Conduct community meetings to review quality of care for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health
- Finalize maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response (MPDSR) guidelines and training materials; Build capacity in MPDSR for neonatal intensive care units providers.
News and events
Launch of the Implementation guidance on transitioning to midwifery models of care
June 3, 2025
Wednesday 18 (online), with two webinars to accomodate different time zones.
World Patient Safety Day: Safe care for every newborn and every child
May 28, 2025
The theme for World Patient Safety Day 2025 is ‘Safe care for every newborn and every child.
Resources
State of the world’s nursing report 2025
May 22, 2025
The 2025 edition of the State of the world’s nursing provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the nursing workforce. The report features new indicators on
Joint Every Woman Every Newborn Everywhere and Child Survival Action on the impact of ODA cuts
May 16, 2025
Every Woman Every Newborn Everywhere and Child Survival Action joint messages on the impact of ODA cuts on maternal, newborn and child health. Prepared for
The Midwifery Accelerator: Expanding health care for women and newborns
April 8, 2025
The Midwifery Accelerator: Expanding Quality Care for Women and Newborns is a call to invest in midwifery care to save and transform the lives of women and their newborns around the world.