Fatimah Isah, from Gwiwa LGA of Jigawa state bled to death following pregnancy complications.
 
Fatima was unable to access quality healthcare during pregnancy and delivery.
 
As a teenager, she suffered pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, no thanks to pro-longed labour.  Fatima developed the condition as a result of labour that lasted for two weeks.
 
She was sent to her parents’ home at seven months pregnancy. Caught in the web of tradition, Fatima could not attend antenatal care in the hospital, because her parents wanted her to deliver in the house.
 
Fatima was faced  with traditional constraint in seeking care and by the time the family consented, she had been in labour two weeks. Her husband later took her on motorcycle to a specialist hospital in the State that was two miles away.
 
She underwent a Ceasarian Section, but, despite efforts by the medical doctors at the hospital, she came down with pre-eclampsia and eclampsia. She later bled to death, but her baby survived.
 
Fatima’s mother narrated: “Newly married women who are pregnant for the first time often stay with their mothers when they are in their seventh month. It is our tradition. This tradition is very important because the specialist hospital to this place is two miles away.
 
“Another thing is that there is no transport to go to the health centre or any other health facility.  You hardly see any doctor to attend to you at the nearby primary healthcare centre. I tried my best with other experienced women, even traditional birth attendants, but my daughter’s case was difficult. She suffered and bled to death before we could arrive at the hospital.”

Read more https://independent.ng/women-bleed-death-poor-access-healthcare/