LUSAKA, Nov. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- The impact of HIV/AIDS on maternal health has seen an increase in pregnancy related deaths as it reduced the immunity of an expecting mother, local press cited a United Nations official as saying on Wednesday.

    In Zambia, pregnancy related complications claimed the lives of 729 in every 100,000 women who gave birth, said Deji Popoola, country representative of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), adding that 30 to 40 percent of the deaths were due to HIV/AIDS related illness.

    Popoola said it was for this reason that the UNFPA was supporting the Zambian government in mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS on the health care delivery system through the provision of technical assistance, medical equipment and pharmaceutical supplies.

    He said mother-to-child transmission of HIV during pregnancy, labor, delivery and breast feeding remained a major public health concern.

    "An estimated 65 percent of prenatal HIV infections occur late in pregnancy during labor and delivery," Popoola was quoted by Zambia Daily Mail as saying.

    He said it was critical for a woman to undergo counseling from a trained medical provider to know how to look after herself and the unborn child once she was pregnant. He then advised women to know their HIV status before conceiving.

    Popoola said his organization was also contributing to the alleviation of the human resource crisis in the southern African country, where 16 percent of its 1.1 million population are believed to be affected with AIDS or HIV positive, by getting involved in the training of nurses and midwives.

    A large number of medical workers are leaving the country for neighboring countries or Europe to seek a better life, a situationwhich worsened the scourge and government has since vowed to stop. Enditem