Beyond birth: The elderly women who carry Zim’s final act of care

EVERY year on May 5, the world pauses to celebrate the International Day of the Midwife, recognising the women who stand at the beginning of life, guiding mothers through pregnancy, labour, childbirth and helping newborns take their first breath.

Their work is visible, celebrated and increasingly acknowledged as essential to maternal and child health.

Yet in many communities across Zimbabwe, there is another group of women whose service begins where the work of midwives sometimes ends.

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