Maternal mortality indices in Nigeria poor, accounts for 5.3% of global mortality

It has been observed that maternal mortality indices in Nigeria are still very poor accounting for 5.3 per cent of the total global mortality rate, a development that is unacceptable and must be addressed.

This is in spite of the significant progress so far made on the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) which had an initial rise from 10 per cent in 2010 to 12 per cent in 2018 according to the National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS).

These statistics were given by the Director, Reproductive Health Unit of the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Kayode Afolabi, during a high-level advocacy campaign to Bauchi at the Ministry of Health and State Primary Healthcare Development Agency on an intervention tagged ‘Self-care’ (SC) being implemented by the Federal Government in collaboration with some partners under the coordination of John Snow Inc.

During the visit and presentation of the advocacy Toolkit and Self Injection Guidelines to the Bauchi State Ministry of Health and State primary Health care Development Agency, Dr Kayode Afolabi said that 14 out of every 100 women die as a result of pregnancy and childbirth-related complications.

He said that to improve the maternal and health indices in Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Health developed innovative approaches to delivering maternal and child health services that include, task shifting and task sharing policy, introduction and scale-up SC to all states and developing the National Self-Care guidelines.

Represented by the Assistant Director, Family Planning Unit of the Federal Ministry of Health, Mr Alex Ugochukwu, Kayode Afolabi said that when domesticated, the Self-Care guidelines will address barriers of accessing all sexual and reproductive health services and improve the wellbeing of girls and women.

While presenting the document to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, he said the Self-care guideline has also provided the roadmap for implementation of other services that are aimed at improving reproductive health.

He further explained that the policy would help Nigerians to personally monitor their health at home before consulting healthcare professionals stressing that Self-Care is the ability of people to promote health, prevent diseases, and cope with illness or disability without the support of a healthcare provider.

While commenting on childbirth spacing Kayode Afolabi noted that there was an increment in the use of modern family planning methods by women in the country both at national and states levels a development he said should be encouraged until the target was achieved.

In his remarks, the Acting Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr Dayyabu Mohammed Hassan expressed optimism that the Self-Care guidelines will provide people with the opportunity to wisely take care of their basic health needs without waiting for professionals to attend to them.

He said that the Self-Care guideline is the best area of health care delivery which should be well looked into so that it will be strengthened and taught to the people to improve access to health care delivery services.

The Permanent Secretary then commended the Federal Ministry of Health and the partners under the Coordination of John Snow Inc for the advocacy saying that such is needed to make the program accessible.

While responding earlier, Executive Chairman of Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency (BASPHCDA) Dr Rilwanu Mohammed, expressed fear over Self-Care policy saying that it may pose some dangers because according to him people are already using it and abusing the process.

Though he opined that the country is not ripe for such, he, however, added that rigorous and sustained education may work the magic to ensure that the aims of the project were achieved.

Rilwanu Mohammed then assured that the state would study the documents very carefully to see how to domesticate them in order to make them work and reduce process abuse by the people.

The Self-Care guideline document was presented by the John Snow Incorporated in collaboration with World Health Organisation (WHO), Association for Reproductive Health and Family Health, Pathfinder International, White Ribbon Alliance, PATH, and JSI.

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Maternal mortality indices in Nigeria poor, accounts for 5.3% of global mortality

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