A medical researcher, Dr Bamidele Iwalokun, on Tuesday advised expectant mothers to always seek appropriate healthcare services during pregnancy to reduce maternal deaths in Nigeria.
Ogun State government has pledged to ensure zero maternal and child mortality, through qualitative and efficient health care delivery.
Worried by increase in number of women coming down with fistula health condition in the country, gynaecologists have called for abolition of traditional birth attendance.
Rather, pregnant women are urged to attend antenatal care in primary healthcare and other recognised hospitals, as this would help to reduce cases of prolonged obstructed labours, which are the major cause of obstetric fistula.
Nigeria, a country of abundant resources and a leading role in African affairs, still struggles with one of the highest maternal mortality ratios worldwide. Although maternal deaths have declined globally since 1990, about 100 Nigerian women die each day while giving birth.
The vast disparity between the rich and the poor in the country contributes to the marginalization of the problem. Leaving the most vulnerable to a low provision of accessible healthcare and nutrition, the disparity has been reported to be the largest among 16 other African countries.
No fewer than 340 women of reproductive age die from maternal deaths in Katsina State annually, 25 less than the 365 recorded in 2016 in the state, with Daura Local Government recording the highest— 54 deaths.
Women in Lagos State have called on the government to provide quality medical care, especially for low-income women at the grassroots, to protect their human right to life.
They also agitate for improved healthcare system, timely response to emergencies and detailed costing of drugs and other medical charges that do not come free.This charge was made yesterday at a town hall meeting organised by the Women Advocate Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) with low-income women and government health care providers.
It was a Tuesday morning. Passengers waited at the creek to be ferried across by the rickety canoe to the other side of Agboyi, a community of about 30,000 dwellers. It has existed for over 500 years, but remains undeveloped.
About 100 women were recorded to have died in Zamfara in 2016 due to pregnancy related complications, a medical consultant with the Federal Medical Centre, Gusau, Abubakar Danladi, disclosed.
Mr. Danladi disclosed this on Tuesday in his presentation at a one-day meeting of Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, and the media on maternal mortality in the state, organised by the Advocacy Nigeria Network, an NGO.
Shakitat Yakubu is 33 years old. She is a resident of Agboyi, a community in the Agboyi-Ketu Local Council Development Area (LCDA) in Kosofe Local Government of Lagos State.
Yakubu, a mother of three, is expecting her fourth child as she is eight months pregnant. But rather than attend one of the numerous Primary Health Care (PHC) Centres that dot the area for her antenatal, Yakubu patronises Mama Nurat, one of the Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) in the community.
The President of the Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Prof. Oluwarotimi Akinola, Sunday said Nigeria is occupying a pathetic position in the number of women that die during child birth, attributing the problem to dearth of skilled birth attendants.
Speaking during an interview with journalists in Sokoto, Akinola noted with deep concern the high rate of maternal deaths in the country, with Nigeria contributing 14 per cent to all the women that die in the world.
