Health

AS a popular saying goes no woman should die while giving birth because pregnancy is not a disease.

However, this is not true in many developing countries, including Nigeria, where maternal mortality remains very high. In some cases where the woman survives child birth it is by the skin of her teeth.

“Being a mother is knowing that you have the strength that you did not know you have,”‘ said 27year-old Mrs Ramatou Hafix, from Bazango Community, Kubwa in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Hafix was about to deliver her first child when she developed pre-eclampsia, a pregnancy disorder that manifests in a sharp rise in blood pressure.

She was referred to a hospital by a traditional birth attendant who had tried without success to manage the case.

“It was at this hospital that we discovered that she had high blood pressure,” her husband said.

At the hospital her labour was getting increasingly painful. Doctors said that the baby was distressed and that Hafiz needed a caesarean section. Luckily mother and child survived the ordeal.

Similarly, 29 year-old Mrs Hussina Sanni, is of Bako community in Kwali who had just been delivered of a baby at Kwali General Hospital,

She told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that she had experienced postpartum haemorrhaging in her previous pregnancies. Experts say postpartum haemorrhaging is severe vaginal bleeding after childbirth. It can be fatal.

According to Sanni, this delivery was no different as she lost about four pints of blood.

While Hafix and Sanni are alive to tell their close shave with death in the course of giving birth thousands of other women are not.

Nearly one in 10 preterm (premature) babies are born in the 10 most fragile countries affected by humanitarian crises, according to a report by UN agencies and partners.

The report said maternal health risks like adolescent pregnancy and pre-eclampsia, were closely linked to preterm births.

According to experts, in rural communities where maternal mortality is almost double the figure obtained in urban areas, women struggle to access lifesaving maternal healthcare:

World Health Organisation (WHO) says Nigeria carries the burden of over 20 per cent of global maternal deaths, ranking second in the world.

“Ending preventable maternal death must remain at the top priority of the new administration health agenda.

“At the same time, simply surviving pregnancy and childbirth can never be the marker of successful maternal health care. Every pregnancy and birth is unique.

“Addressing inequalities that affect health outcomes, especially sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender, is fundamental to ensuring that all women have access to respectful and high-quality maternity care,” a WHO report on maternal health said..

According to stakeholders, addressing the challenge requires a strong political will, a strong collaboration and advocacy to reignite focus on maternal and child health.

This makes it incumbent on the incoming administration of Sen. Bola Tinubu to prioritise maternal health in the coming years.

The UNICEF Chief of Health in Nigeria, Dr Eduardo Celades, said Nigeria’s international partners expect the escalation of government’s efforts in addressing maternal health under the new administration.

Celades said with estimated 82,000 Nigerian women ding yearly from pregnancy-related complications expected areas of priority should include quality ante-natal care and safe delivery, which he described as pillars of the safe motherhood.

He said it was important that Nigeria continued to be part of comity of nations where maternal mortality has been on decline.

“From 2000 to 2020, the global maternal mortality ratio (MMR) declined by 34 per cent – from 342 deaths to 223 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to UN inter-agency estimates, ” he said.

He advised the incoming administration to prioritise health and ensure free access to maternal health services, especially in rural communities.

Some health experts also argued that access to free maternal care is a major way to end the high mortality rate in the country.

The President, Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH), Prof. Oladapo Ladipo, said it is important for the incoming administration to place health issues on the front burner to guarantee meaningful development in the sector.

He spoke at a recent summit was organised by the Association of Nigeria Health Journalists (ANHEJ).

Ladipo said health remains a basic human right and that when health is absent wisdom cannot manifest itself.

“Adequate funding is required to provide quality health services and reduce maternal deaths.

“Maternal deaths figures in Nigeria are very shameful; we have all it takes to make things right”, he told the audience.

The Managing Director, Nigeria Health Watch, Mrs Vivianne Ihekweazu, said a forum on Celebrating Womanhood Art Gala’ themed “Elevating Women’s Voices for Quality Maternal Healthcare”, in Abuja shares the same views.

“Maternity care that focuses on women’s needs and treats women respectfully is likely to lead to greater satisfaction as well as better and more equitable health outcomes,” she said.

According to her, to address the challenge of high maternal mortality in the country, Nigeria should reduce delays in seeking, accessing, and receiving maternal healthcare even at the Primary Health Care level.

Also, the Coordinator, Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN), Dr Aminu Magashi, said that improving maternal health would require addressing their root causes which includes poverty and lack of education.

Magashi urged Tinubu to ensure that adequate resources, including trained care givers, and up-to-date equipment were available nationwide.

He said that there was a need for sufficient and sustained funding for safe motherhood programmes.

“Current efforts to improve safe motherhood in Nigeria are driven by international agencies and NGOs.

“If these efforts are to succeed the government must also ensure a leadership role in the fight to reduce maternal mortality,” he told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He advised the incoming government to also include the provision of essential and emergency drugs to reduce bleeding during and after delivery in healthcare policies.. (NANFeatures)

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Tags: Bazango Community Hussina Sanni Kubwa Kwali General Hospital Mrs Ramatou Hafix