[1][2] The mean age of mothers at birth is 19.3 years old, and the fertility rate is 5.72 children born per woman, which is the 7th highest in the world.
[1] Due to the poor health outcomes for mothers, and the challenges to access of care there is a significant impact on the culture of birth.
Establishing safety for the mother and baby through national health improvement, particularly concerning infectious disease and access to clean water, is a priority for Zambia.
In order to develop a positive cultural and religious attitude towards vaginal delivery, women's awareness has to be raised through various ways and the existing misconceptions need to be corrected.
[5] While the woman is pregnant, extra precaution were taken as it is believed the women and her baby are in a physically and spiritually weaker state; this means they are more susceptible to sickness and evil forces.
[1] Women are not allowed to have sexual intercourse after the eighth month of pregnancy, this is believed to prevent the baby to have “white stuff” (vernix) on their skin when they are born.
Mbusas will also utilize pieces of clothing called a chitenge to assist women into different positions, in an attempt to alleviate some of their pain.
In those cases, they choose to accompany the laboring mothers to maternity units rather than delivering in the home.
Many of the mbusas and those to bring the mothers to the maternity center are often only allowed in the room during visiting hours, however many women will choose to wait outside the unit.
The women who choose to have a birth at home, states that they feel unwelcome at postpartum care clinics.
In a qualitative study one woman stated: “I would feel shy to have somebody next to me because we make a lot of noise and we are not covered.”.
[14] Pregnancy due dates and the start of labor are not announced as many are fearful this could evoke evil witchcraft.
Reports show that the rate of postpartum visits (up to 6 weeks after the birth of the baby) is 84% in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia.
Babies are traditionally left either unwrapped, or wrapped in piece of cloth immediately after birth.
[9] Due to the high maternal mortality rate of 224 deaths per 100,000 live births, many newborns are left without a mother and may therefore be orphaned and sent to an orphanage.
[citation needed] Access to clean water and sanitations is a considerable concern for the health and nutrition of the mother.
[15] The exclusive rate for breastfeeding of children under 6 months is 61%, and early initiation (within the first hour) occurs in 57% of moms.
Prior to the early 2000s, it was believed that HIV+ mothers should not breastfeed to avoid spreading HIV to their baby.
When this was proven false and the National AIDS Council published a recommendation for HIV mothers to breastfeed their babies, breastfeeding rates began to rise again around 2007.
[15] An advocacy campaign was launched by the Zambian ministry of health in 2009 to promote improvement of exclusive breastfeeding rate.
However, as noted earlier, the access to media is limited in Zambia, so alternate methods of dissemination are required.
The following graphic represents the increase in coverage of exclusive breastfeeding across Zambia over 5 year increments.
[16] A child's nutritional status is influenced by access to food, care, and health, and poor feeding practices combined with illnesses such as intestinal parasites, diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, and HIV/AIDS cause this high burden of undernutrition.
Circumcision is generally perceived and suggested to be beneficial for reduction of STI and HIV transmission.