Adesua Oni is a registered nurse and midwife. In this interview by ADEOLA OTEMADE, she discusses the issues facing pregnant women, the factors responsible for maternal mortality and how the government can provide a better health care system for the people.
Read more at: https://tribuneonlineng.com/how-govt-can-improve-health-care-of-pregnant...
Wife of the Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu has cautioned citizens, especially pregnant women, nursing mothers and teenagers against patronizing quacks for their health care needs.
Speaking on Friday at the flag-off of 2020 Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCAH) Week in Lagos which held at the Ejigbo Local Council Development Area Secretariat, Sanwo-Olu, particularly frowned at the rate at which pregnant women patronized quacks who claimed to be traditional birth attendants for their ante-natal and post-natal care needs.
When Bill Gates some weeks back, told Nigerian political elites that the country is one of the most dangerous places on earth to give birth, not many would have thought of the drama that played out in Akure, the Ondo State capital, the other week.
Pregnant women were reported to have paralyzed activities in the State Specialist Hospital while protesting against outrageous medical fees introduced by the state government.
Sokoto and Kebbi States ministry of Health has organised a three day workshop aimed at boosting Iron Folic Acid Supplementation (IFAS) for pregnant women in Northern Nigeria.
The IFAS startup workshop would help in no small measure in the sensitising not only child bearing age women in the region but also their husbands on adequate preparation before having children.
For a long time, the Lagos State government has claimed to operate free maternal and childcare programme in the state, to make healthcare affordable among the vulnerable groups and reduce the tin evil of maternal and newborn death. But the reality appears different, as pregnant women in some sampled primary healthcare centres and general hospitals across the state are often forced to bear the financial cost of delivery and accessing antenatal services, even in the face of the policy.
Ceaseless accolades have continued to trail the newly-renovated and equipped maternal wards donated to four hospitals in Cross River State by MTN Foundation as part of efforts aimed at complementing the national objective of reducing maternal and infant mortality in Nigeria.
Pregnant women and mothers were particularly excited and grateful for this gesture because of the potential for reduction of high maternal mortality rates recorded nationally.
A report presented yesterday, in Abuja, by Chairman of the Association for the Advancement of Family Planning (AAFP) and Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the conference, Dr. Ejike Oji said about 40,000 women die every year from childbirth related complications.
The report is against the backdrop of preparations for the Fourth Family Planning Conference to be held in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The report also indicated that the country’s maternal mortality ratio has hit 576 deaths out of every 100,000 live births daily.
About 50 percent of pregnant women across the country are currently suffering from anaemia due to shortage and lack of good food suitable for their health during pregnancy, a professor of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Oladosu Ojengbede has said.
This shortage of food with nutrients and vitamins due to high level of poverty and economic hardship currently biting hard on the country, has also resulted in the alarming rate of maternal mortality and morbidity compared to other countries of the world.
Women and children in rural areas are not the only ones disproportionately affected by poor quality of maternal and child health care delivery. Those in communities few kilometers away from the city are faced with health threats also due to the absence of health facilities.
Igbologun is one of the riverine communities in Amowo-Odofin Local Government Area, Lagos, where pregnant women and children pay stiff price to stay alive, although maternal services are free in Lagos State.
This island community also known as Snake Island, with over twenty thousand people, largely child bearing women and children, has only one poorly functioning Primary Health Centre (PHC), which is not patronized for maternal services.
