Nigeria: Boko Haram heightens maternal, neo-natal health crisis in N-East Nigeria

Neo natal health crisis Nigeria - The Nigerian National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Tuesday said that the rate of insecurity in Nigeria's North Eastern zone -- Borno, Bauchi and Yobe States -- as a result of the Boko Haram crisis has hampered the provision of maternal and neo-natal services by birth attendants under the National Midwives Service Scheme (MSS). But the Acting Executive Director, NPHCDA, Dr. Emmanuel Abadina, told the MSS review meeting in Abuja that the services of the midwives would be fully restored once the impasse was over in the challenged zones.

National statistics show that MSS sustainability was recorded in Sokoto, Bayelsa, Kebbi, Jigawa, Lagos, Rivers, Cross Rivers and Katsina states with no recorded maternal death in some of these South-South States.

But Borno and Bauchi States have about 26 and 13 maternal deaths respectively as at March, 2011 while the neo-natal deaths rose to 130 and 36 at the same period mentioned. Taraba State recorded 25 neo-natal deaths.

Abadina said that -a lot of progress has been made in the MSS across board. We realize that we have some challenges especially in the North-East. It is possible that the few health facilities in the North are clustered around just one part of the zones in which case the other parts may not have been covered.-

Dr. Abadina explained that the MSS core indicators included the MSS facilities offering 24 hours service with approximately four midwives per facility, total ante-natal care services, new visits, deliveries by skilled birth attendants, reductions of maternal mortality rate and neo-maternal rates from baselines.

Others are proportion of women aged 15 to 45 years, attending and using modern contraception and proportion of children fully immunized at one year old in MSS facilities.

Director, Primary Health Care Systems, NPHCDA, Dr. Mohammed Abdullahi, stated; “Some of the States such as Yobe, Borno, Bauchi are not doing well because of perceived security challenges.

-For example, even if Borno State is paying 100,000 naira today to midwives, many of the midwives will not stay there. The challenges are not because of the monetary aspect but because of the security challenges. But very soon these challenges will be resolved and most of the Midwives will go back to their duty-posts.-

http://www.afriquejet.com/neo-natal-health-crisis-2011072719233.html