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Rotary engages Abuja rural community women on reproductive, maternal healthcare

The Rotary Action Group for Reproductive and Maternal Child Healthcare has engaged Abuja rural community women in a dialogue on reproductive and maternal health as it emphasised the need for pregnant women to register for antenatal and avoid home delivery.

The dialogue which was held in the Yimitu community under the Waru ward of the AMAC area council of the FCT, Abuja aimed to engage both men and women in the community in a vital discussion about preventive measures to avoid home deliveries and unwanted pregnancies.

The Rotary-RMCH Chief Midwife, Mrs Hannatu Dung, while speaking to journalists at the sideline of the dialogue, explained that the routine nature of the initiatives was aimed at equipping participants with essential hygiene practices and the ability to recognize early signs of labour during pregnancy.

She said, “We are educating them on the importance of hospital facilities in managing modern birth issues. We are talking about the risks of home delivery and the risks of going to a Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) to deliver.

“We are very particular about delivering in the care of skilled birth attendants. Somebody who is recognised by the World Health Organization(WHO) as defined by WHO.

“A doctor and a nurse who is a midwife and or community extension worker who has been trained in modified lifesaving skills. As we expected every woman who is pregnant goes through the process until she delivers including post-natal care.

“We understand quite a number of women who prefer to deliver at home, and we are saying no to home delivery. Because delivering at home happens with a lot of risk.”

She, therefore, urged pregnant women to deliver in the care of a skilled birth attendant and trained health workers as she advised men to support their wives during pregnancy.

“They should help them get good health facility instead of leaving them to deliver at home. When a woman is in labour, she needs to be taken to the health facility to deliver.

“Particularly when labour pains have started, she cannot bear that pain and still walk to the health facility, so she needs some support,” she added.

Similarly, the Chief Nurse and Midwife of Waru Primary Health Care Center, Roseline Edozie, disclosed that the PHC lack adequate human resources such as nurses and midwives appealed to the federal government to hire more personnel to meet the community’s needs.

She said, “We have a good number of clients in the antenatal clinic but where we have issues is in the delivery right now I’m the only midwife in primary healthcare.

“The government has a lot to do in that aspect at least to cover the three shifts morning afternoon and night so when they come here they are attended to by qualified nurses.

“That is the challenge we’re having because these women sometimes when they come there in the night nobody as the midwife to attend to them and if I’m the one coming there I’ll be discouraged, I would like to go back to another place, so you know it’s a very big challenge.”

Also, the District Head of the Yimitu community, Dauda Ibrahim, appreciated Rotary RMCH for choosing their community, stating that it is a good development.

He, therefore, appealed to the government to build a clinic in the community and also fix the road so it will be easy to transport pregnant women when they are due for delivery.

“The clinic here is owned by a non-governmental organization and we appreciate the kind gesture. We need more hospitals in our community. The government should come to our aid.”

A pregnant resident of the community, Comfort Emmanuel, while giving testimony about her experience and the benefits and importance of antenatal, said she always goes to the hospital to deliver her babies.

“My two sisters died while giving birth at home and is very painful to me. I do not listen to what other women are saying but rather visit the Primary Health centre for my antenatal,” she said.

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