High maternal deaths: 1,000 obstetric nurses to be empowered in Lagos, Abuja, Oyo

All is set by the Birthsafe Nigeria to empower no fewer than 1,000 obstetric nurses and registered midwives from across Lagos, Oyo, Rivers and Kano states as well as the Federal Capital Territory with requisite knowledge and skills that will enhance their service delivery on pregnancy-related complications, childbirth, and the postpartum period.

The two-day free capacity building programme, tagged:” Train One to Reach Many (TORM),” is slated for between Tuesday, July 2nd and 3rd in Lagos to tackle high maternal deaths. 

The Chief Executive Officer of Birthsafe, Dr Idara Umoette, who announced the training at a news conference in Lagos, said the training is a response to effectively tackle the high maternal and child mortality in Nigeria.

She said there is an urgent need for such an intervention to halt and reverse the trend. 

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Umoette emphasised that so many women lose their lives to pregnancy-related complications and at times, with their babies whereas, “no woman supposes to die again in the process of giving birth not only in Nigeria but also elsewhere globally.

She stated that the 1,000 nurses and midwives from the four states and the FCT with equal representation to be empowered would be expected to impact no fewer than 250,000 pregnant women in turn to reduce high maternal death rate. 

She noted that participants are selected from high volume health facilities with maternal and fetal delivery across beneficiary states and FCT.

Umoette pointed out that statistics show that a woman dies every 10.5 minutes from pregnancy complications in Nigeria but that most of those deaths are preventable.

Acknowledging other various factors such as inadequate health facilities, shortage of health personnel, poverty, socio-cultural barrier, and religion beliefs, among others that are responsible for this narrativ, she singled out lack of requisite skills and knowledge by many health practitioners, especially nurses and midwives to effectively handle pregnancy complications as one of the biggest challenges the country has been contending with.

“That is why we came up with TORM campaign as part of our social intervention initiatives to impact society.

We realized that government alone cannot adequately and effectively fill the gap.

“We believe that a well-trained nurse, who knows exactly what to do, especially within the first five minutes, will make a substantial difference.

“We don’t want to lose our women and their babies again to avoidable complications, especially now that technology has reached almost everywhere in the country.”

Birthsafe is a maternal health tech platform focuses on improving the survival rates of women and babies in pregnancy using digital antenatal services.

Umoette explained that in obstetric emergencies, every second matters, noting that the two-day training would cover a wide range of complications, including postpartum hemorrhage, preeclampsia, and other issues that can arise during pregnancy and childbirth.

Similarly, the Lagos State Secretary, National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Dr Toba Odumosu; the President of Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria, Lagos State branch, Dr Funmi Ige, as well as the CEO of Accentare Nigeria, Dr Ifeoma Orifa, at the conference, equally emphasised the need to sharpen the skills and knowledge of first responder health professionals in the area of maternal and child healthcare in both urban and remote communities in the country.

They said the high rate by which Nigeria is losing women in the course of giving birth and at times, with their babies is truly needed to be addressed.

They, however, commended Birthsafe Nigeria for the upcoming TORM campaign, saying it will practically drive development in child and maternal healthcare delivery in the country.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE