Effective family planning can reduce maternal mortality by 40% —Expert

A medical expert, Dr Tunde Olatunji, has said that family planning services are much more than child spacing, but a service that if properly implemented can help cut its maternal mortality by 40 per cent.

Dr Olatunji, a past Nigeria Medical Association Chairman and Medical officer of Health, Akinyele Local Government Area, spoke at a media roundtable for family planning organised by DEVCOM.

He said family planning can contribute to a substantial reduction in fertility, reduce the proportion of unwanted pregnancies as well as maternal deaths.

According to him, most pregnancy and pregnancy-related deaths are from bleeding, anaemia, infection, and obstructed labour, adding that the risk of these deaths is affected by frequency and spacing of births.

He declared: “For every pregnancy, the woman’s nutrients are depleted, so if she does not recuperate well, chances of complications in pregnancy, including death are higher.

“Family planning or child spacing helps to avoid pregnancies at too early an age, at very short intervals and too old an age. It helps to avoid too many pregnancies thereby preventing deaths of mothers.”

• More than 20 foreign investors set to boost automotive sector 

Dr Olatunji, who remarked that all pregnancies should be planned, said family planning objectives aside from child spacing include advice on sterility, education on parenthood, screening for pathological conditions affecting the reproductive system, teaching home economics and nutrition, genetic counselling and even preparation of couples for the arrival of their child.

He declared that women of reproductive age groups must avail themselves of preconception care, which includes providing education, health promotion, screening and interventions to reduce risk factors that might affect her future pregnancies.

Dr Olatunji stated that the health of women during pregnancy and childbirth and the period afterward are important for motherhood.

“For too many women, it is associated with suffering, ill health and death. At the level of preconception and perinatal care in Nigeria, pregnancy, its complications and childbirth are the leading causes of death among women of reproductive age,” he declared.