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Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Nigeria: Infant, Maternal Mortality Rates

The recent visit to the country by the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon to see for himself the level of government's intervention as it relates to infant and maternal health, has once again brought to the fore the extent of the country's commitment to women's issues in terms of providing the appropriate policy base and requisite investments for achievement of the health targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
During the visit, which was to further propagate the "Every Woman, Every Child" global health campaign launched last September during the MDGs Summit at the UN headquarters in New York, USA, Ki-Moon visited the Dutsen Makaranta Primary Health Centre in Bwari and the Maitama District Hospital, all in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The two projects are supported by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
Apparently impressed by what he was shown, the UN boss commended the efforts of the President Goodluck Jonathan government towards improving health care in the country, including the passage of the health care bill by the National Assembly.
However, the Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health, spells out what countries need to do to accelerate progress in the area of infant and maternal health, and calls for a bold, coordinated effort, building on what has been achieved so far, locally, nationally, regionally and globally.
It equally calls on all partners to unite and take action through enhanced financing, strengthened policy positions and improved service delivery on women's and children's health.
The summary of the commitments include saving 16 million lives by 2015, preventing 33 million unwanted pregnancies, protecting 120 million children from pneumonia and 88 million children from stunting, advancing the control of deadly diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, and ensuring access for women and children to quality facilities and skilled health workers.
The international community mobilised $40 billion for the global initiative, specifically to tackle maternal and infant mortality.
President Jonathan on his part, pledged $500,000 for the next three years as part of the country's commitment to women's issues, while receiving in audience the UN boss at the State House, Abuja.
We urge him to ensure that the money is judiciously used for what it is meant, because the issue of infant and maternal mortality in the country is still far from the ideal.
That hundreds of Nigerian women are dying daily in what ordinarily should be a joyful occasion -giving life - at a time most countries of the world are channelling their energies to more technical issues, is to say the least, a big irony, considering the huge natural resources the country is endowed with and the fact that majority of these deaths are preventable.
More than 144 women are said to die daily in the country from pregnancy related complications.
A breakdown of this disturbing picture shows that between 800 and 1,500 women die in every 100,000 live births as pregnancy-induced deaths claim one woman every 10 minutes. Thousands of others experience injuries, infections, diseases or disabilities that can cause lifelong suffering every year.
Ki-Moon's commendations on efforts of the Jonathan government notwithstanding, WHO and UNICEF statistics rate Nigeria second, only to India in maternal mortality, thus contributing over 10 per cent of the world's total estimate of maternal deaths.
And for every such deaths, 15 - 20 other women suffer short or long term disabilities, among them obstetric fistulae also known as Vesico Vaginal Fistulae (VVF), ruptured uterus and paralyses.
This is in addition to Nigeria ranking high in infant mortality rate of about 105 to 1,000 live births, and rising under-five mortality rate of about 178 to 1,000 live births.
Most of these deaths and disabilities are avoidable. Where deliveries are overseen by skilled health personnel with access to emergency obstetric care, and where women receive adequate nutrition and basic health-care services, the risk of maternal death is less.
So, a situation where one Nigerian woman dies every 10 minutes of this preventable epidemic is unacceptable and makes nonsense of the MDGs target of reducing the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters before 2015.
Various tiers of government must come to terms with the fact that preventing maternal deaths and disabilities are pressing human rights issues demanding urgent attention in terms of increased resource allocation and political commitment.
Interventions must, indeed, be scaled up so that essential care can be provided throughout pregnancy and childbirth, and also during the post-natal period.
We believe that significant reduction of maternal mortality and other illnesses can easily be achieved, considering that among the factors inhibiting provision of maternal health care in Nigeria are inadequate or lack of implementation of laws and policies, prevalence of systemic corruption, weak infrastructure, ineffective health services and lack of access to skilled health care providers.
Therefore, basic measures such as prevention and treatment of malaria, providing mothers-to-be with adequate nutrition and ante-natal care, training of traditional birth attendants and ensuring that health centres offer emergency obstetric care, would go a long way towards saving the lives of women and their children.
Incorporation of traditional birth attendants into the policies of government will help, since most rural women rely on them for delivery.
Doctors and nurses must be attracted and kept to man primarily health care facilities in the rural areas, where high incidences of these deaths occur. This is in addition to the introduction, by various states, of sustainable and free maternal/child care programmes as well as adult literacy schemes to educate both the women and their husbands on the need for proper child spacing, attendance of ante-natal programmes and immunization of their babies.
Concrete steps must, indeed, be taken to stem the tide of maternal mortality in the country if the contributions of women to the economy are truly central to the wellbeing of the nation.
This is why President Jonathan's promise to the UN boss on Nigeria's commitment to achieving the eight MDGs by 2015, must be fulfilled in the interest of all.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201107060895.html