A STUDY into the birth practices of conservative apostolic sects, conducted by OPHID in 2014, revealed that members consider the Holy Spirit to be the guiding force in healing.
Illness, according to the study, is considered to have a spiritual cause and modern healthcare is seen as “heathen”.
A lot of deaths have been recorded at apostolic centres, most of which could have been avoided by following standard procedure.
Apostolic sects are widespread in Buhera and other districts, and according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat), 38% of Zimbabwean women belong to apostolic sects and 74% of these live in rural areas.
In all this, teenage mothers, mostly, have succumbed to the unhealthy conditions of giving birth while outside proper care facilities like clinics and hospitals.
ZimStat, the statistics agency, says the maternal mortality rate — the number of women who die while pregnant or from causes related to pregnancy within 42 days after birth — was 516 per 100 000 live births in 2012.
A June 2023 report on National Assessment on Adolescent Pregnancies in Zimbabwe by Unicef shows that religion influences people’s knowledge and practices on uptake of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), especially use of contraception.
The research revealed that most of the adolescent girls of the apostolic religion — 49% — had no access to SRHR.
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In 2021, Memory Machaya, a 14-year-old child bride in Marange, Manicaland province, died while giving birth.
Her death cast light on the practice of child marriage within Zimbabwe’s apostolic sect, which often rejects medicine and hospital treatment.
Many campaigns against this practice in apostolic sects have been launched, with calls for them to adopt safer ways of childbirth.
In response to that, the Vadzidzi vaJesu apostolic sect, warming up to calls to upscale child birth in a bid to save lives that were being lost unnecessarily, opened a clinic, the Centre Zimbabwe Africa (CZA) Clinic in 2022.
The clinic is a collaboration between the church and the government through the Health and Child Care ministry.
On a recent visit to the clinic, ecstatic mothers who had just given birth expressed gratitude over the new set-up, where they are now safely giving birth under the care of qualified health personnel.
“I delivered my baby here without any problem. When I found out I was pregnant, I became very worried as there had just been a maternal death close to where I stay,” said Mudzidzi Lesinciniya M, a firm believer of the church and its doctrine.
“The lady [who died] had opted for home delivery. I then recalled all the unfortunate home deliveries I had witnessed, prompting me to come to the centre to register a safe delivery at the clinic.
“I am relieved and happy that the church has built this clinic for us and we now hear issues of deaths from home deliveries from other sects that still follow the doctrine of not going to health institutions for attention.
“I find the idea of a clinic for our church very comforting as we continue to follow our doctrine while getting the necessary health attention.”
The clinic offers all the necessary SRHR services, though, according to the church’s doctrine.
Nurses at the clinic are members of the church, but were trained under the Health ministry nurse training programmes.
Another woman, Sabina Mazarura, said women from the church were being assisted from pregnancy through to giving birth.
“We feel relieved as women in the church. Since the hospital opened, we have received (SRHR) services easily, in accordance with what our church’s doctrine says,” she said.
“This is unlike going to other health institutions which we ended up shunning as they are not aware of the values we believe in as a church.”
Another devout member of the sect travelled all the way from Kadoma (Mashonaland West province) to Goora, Mashonaland Central, where the centre is situated because she felt they could accommodate her better than at other health institutions and also that she would get attended to with a clear conscience, without feeling guilty of going against the church’s doctrines.
“I came from Kadoma to be at the clinic’s waiting mothers’ shelter,” Vimbai Takundwa said.
“The clinic is very important for members of our church as the nurses attending to us are members of our faith and are well qualified to help us go through safe deliveries.”
She had gone to four institutions in Kadoma, but the service was not to her liking and she felt giving birth at an institution within their faith was the best solution.
Most of the ladies attended to said the clinic was a life saver as they were witnessing a lot of deaths resulting from home deliveries conducted by unskilled personnel.
The emergence of the clinic has ensured a decrease in such deaths, with CZA clinic nurse-in-charge, Violet Musake, saying since the hospital opened in 2022, home deliveries have fallen significantly.
“As believers of the apostolic faith, many were afraid to come for attention, but after seeing how life-saving it was and also witnessing maternal deaths being recorded from home deliveries, they started embracing the clinic,” she said.
“So far, there has not been any maternal or neonatal deaths since we opened. We would record about 20 home deliveries per half a year, but now we may fail to get even one home delivery per quarter.”
“In 2024 we had a rough average of 420 deliveries, with 30 deliveries per month. This year, so far we have received about 355 deliveries. For August alone we had about 61 deliveries, which means we have seen a rise in institutional deliveries. This shows that members of the faith have embraced the clinic.”
Prior reports indicated that maternal deaths were high in apostolic sects owing to several factors, including the conditions under which they give birth as well as that deliveries are conducted by unskilled personnel.
Mashonaland Central provincial medical director Clemence Tshuma said they had reached a mutual understanding with a number of apostolic sects in the province.
“We always work with apostolic sects and last time, we talked about how we have managed to persuade some of them to open health facilities at their shrines,” he said.
“Basically, what we have done is, instead of taking a confrontational approach, we have decided to look at what we have in common and our differences.”
According to this year’s Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS), maternal mortality ratio (MMR) has fallen to 212 deaths per 100 000 live births down from 651 per 100 000 live births from the last ZDHS 2015.
Although still high, this steady decline indicates progress towards ending maternal deaths and ensuring no woman dies while giving life.
“We commend the significant reduction in the maternal mortality ratio, as evidenced by the 2023-24 ZDHS. This is a testament to the focused investments and collaborative efforts in strengthening maternal health services across Zimbabwe,’ said United Nations Population Fund representative Miranda Tabifor.
“It’s a clear indication that prioritising the health of mothers and ensuring access to skilled care can save lives.
“While we acknowledge that more work remains, this achievement is a powerful reminder of what can be accomplished when we invest in the right areas and empower women with quality healthcare.”
