AMIHIN is a Nigeria based international development agency set up in 2000 to address the unacceptably high levels of maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity in poor communities in West Africa.
We work to disseminate information on best healthcare practices to improve maternal and newborn health in poor communities; to provide financial and physical support to mothers and newborn in poor communities. Our particular focus is on pregnancy and the first 1 year of life.
Our vision is an equitable world where all women and their newborns enjoy optimal wellbeing; where child bearing ceases to hold monumental risks of death and where newborns and infants have a better chance of survival.
Our strategic aims and objective includes:
• Increasing awareness of the poor state of maternal and child health in West Africa, particularly Nigeria and to influence governmental policy affecting maternal and child health in Nigeria.
• Raise funds towards providing health solutions in the area of maternal and child health and assisting our partners in providing affordable, accessible and quality health care services to women and newborns.
• Providing information in the form of a blog and magazine on child care and mother care especially during pregnancy and nursing
• To act as a liaison between sponsors and their target audience and to partner with bodies and organisations involved in the provision of maternal and child health services in West Africa.
• Provide assistance in rural areas towards improving maternal and child healthcare – assistance as detailed below.
Hundreds of thousands of women die each year due to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. Some of the most important first steps to making a difference include:
• Social networking sites and blogs: Awareness on blogs and popular sites like facebook and tweeter can help in raising awareness to these cause and rally people around it more.
• Campaigns and rallies: Regular campaigns and rallies should be held in rural areas in raising awareness and support for the prevention of infant and child mortality; which is the most pertinent issue at stake in Africa and Nigeria. But it has to go beyond internet, radio and television. It has to go to the rural areas where most of these women do not access to these facilities and are not even literate (an issue we mostly overlook).
• Provision of free nutritional and healthcare information to mothers; on some basic hygienic practices that can mean life and death. Knowledge is power and these mostly elude them. An interpretator who speaks their dialect can be arranged to interpret the words that elude them. Some times it is better the interpreter is used that is from there locality, it allows them to be more free and they are able to open up better and ask questions that will really benefit them. This has been discovered to make them more relaxed and able to ask questions.
• Subsidized healthcare services: The health system in some countries, especially African countries are not good enough. For example, the health system in Nigeria is dysfunctional for many reasons. In the federal system there are three levels of government, and each level is responsible for a particular level of healthcare. But there is no law stating what each level of government should do. There is a policy, but no law. Government officials simply tell you they're doing the best they can. Local government receives the least funding from the national budget, so there's also the question of whether it has the money to make a difference. In terms of health there are no fundamental rights; there is a chapter in the constitution that demands there be adequate medical and health facilities for all, but this is a social objective and does not impose a legal obligation. There is also an absence of transparency about what money there is. You hear officials from government agencies and legislative bodies saying that they have put funds into the health sector, but nothing gets done and no one seems to ask questions. If and when resources are allocated, they are not necessarily accounted for. Women do go to the clinics and health centres; they are unable to meet the high demands of these hospitals. (Let us not forget that most of them live on less than a dollar a day). A most disturbing issue is the compulsory blood donation in some hospitals. If a woman comes as a patient she is asked to bring her partner to donate blood. So a lot is wrong with the health sector in my country. So when we talk about subsidising healthcare facilities, the effect can only be seen when they are done to particular hospitals and clinics where the effects are seen. It is more than just donating money to this cause. We must ensure we see our efforts pay off to the end user it is intended for. That is only when we can make significant impacts to seeing a reduction in the death of mothers and children.
• Provision of innovative cost effective solutions such as the emergency motorbike service. These is a project being worked on and which I believe can go a long way in ensuring pregnant mothers are able to receive medical attention as soon as possible by transporting them in safety to the nearest maternity centre or hospital. . Most pregnant women in rural areas are located in farm lands that are inaccessible by road. Imagine a scenario where a pregnant mother-to-be develops complications in the middle of the night in such a location that is inaccessible to vehicles. The only means of transportation that can get her to the nearest hospital or maternity center in relative comfort and safety is the emergency motor bike that has been modified and designed for such a task.
• Provision of clothing, food and medical care for underprivileged mothers & children in rural areas of Nigeria. Most women and mothers live under a dollar a day and most of them; pregnant mother-to-be, nursing mothers and their children are under nourished and are inadequately clothed. They are not privileged to medical care. Most of them don’t go to the hospital except to give birth or when they are terribly sick and even when they do go, it is usually too late. This is because they can ill afford the exorbitant amount of treating one’s self in the hospital. An average Nigerian can barely afford to go for check ups. Not to talk of those in the rural areas.
• The safe-delivery kit is a simple approach to reducing maternal death in women. It helps women and newborns avoid life-threatening infections. These can also be distributed to all pregnant women in the rurqal areas.
A safe delivery kit would contain:
1. a small bar of soap for washing hands,
2. a plastic sheet to serve as the delivery surface,
3. clean string for tying the umbilical cord,
4. a new razor blade for cutting the cord and
5. Pictorial instructions that illustrate the sequence of delivery events and hand-washing.
The kit can be customized to fit various cultures and norms across Africa.
Training of local mid-wives and traditional birth attendants: Most women in the rural areas have been found to trust these local and traditional attendants more than the hospital. This is because they are cheaper and more caring. Most of these women do not like the way they are atte3nded to at the hospitals and need these women who will be there with them through out the period of their child birth. Tey are women who have been delivering there children and are known and reputed to give safe births (and they actually do). It has been discovered to be safer, cost effective and much better to actually re-train these women in childbirth and their training ensures they are in touch with the hospitals and so ensure these women have safe deliveries in the hospitals. These traditional birth attendants are thus trained in the act of attending to pregnant women because they are the ones that will be available when it is most needed and when these women develop complications, they are the nearest people they will call on.
Email: amihn2000@gmail.com
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