Sierra Leone: One year of free healthcare - in pictures

Something beautiful is happening in Sierra Leonne: the women are really feeling the effects of a wonderful maternal Health plan that targets Maternal health directly. I am so proud of this, i kept reading and looking at the pictures over and over again.
Nigeria really needs to start impacting directly into the lifes of our mothers. it s high time we stop propagandas and doing speeches. Its time our mothers and infants feel the effect; because honestly?,...its all that matters.

All the way from sierra Leone:

The medical price list at Princess Christian maternity hospital, the main maternity hospital in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. In April 2010, President Ernest Koroma launched a policy of free healthcare for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and children under five to address the high maternal mortality rates. According to the latest figures by Unicef, the lifetime risk of a woman in Sierra Leone dying due to complications in childbirth is one in 21. In the UK, the number is 1 in 4,700. The policy would provide free health services for up to 460,000 women and 1 million children each year. It sought to tackle the stumbling blocks to previous attempts to introduce free healthcare - an insufficient supply of drugs and medical consumables, and provide a liveable wage for health workers, to prevent illicit charges and retain staff within the sector


Photograph: Aubrey Wade/Oxfam

The waiting room at Makeni government hospital, about 85 miles from Freetown. According to figures from the governments of Sierra Leone and the UK, before free healthcare was introduced, one in 12 children died before the age of one, the majority from preventable diseases, and only about 10% of births took place in health facilities. In the first month after free healthcare was introduced, the number of women giving birth in hospitals and clinics increased from 6,733 to 28,239. Between September 2009 and August 2010, a 32% increase in the number of children under five being treated in public health facilities was also recorded. Prenatal consultations increased by 71% over this period


Photograph: Oxfam

Nurse Halimatu Kamara administering a polio vaccine to six-month-old Zainab Nana Sillah, who is attending the clinic at Lumley government hospital, a suburb of Freetown, with her mother Abibatu Jah Saneh. The mother attended the clinic for free prenatal check-ups prior to delivering her baby


Photograph: Aubrey Wade/Oxfam

Hawa Aruma, 20, and her son at Princess Christian maternity hospital. She is a market trader, and her husband works in construction. She has another son, two-year-old Musa Ngoba. ‘When I was pregnant with Musa, I gave birth at a health centre and it cost LE80,000 [$20]. My husband paid, but his income is low. It was a struggle to find the money.’ When she became pregnant again, she was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia (raised blood pressure during pregnancy) and was referred to Princess Christian hospital for monitoring. ‘If I’d had to pay for hospital, it would have meant taking capital out of my market business’


Photograph: Aubrey Wade/Oxfam

Zainab Tarawalie, 20, and baby son Hassan, who is one day old, at Makeni government hospital. If Tarawalie had given birth before healthcare was free, she’d have gone to a traditional birth attendant (TBA) because she wouldn’t have been able to afford treatment. During delivery her passage was too small for Hassan to pass through, and her skin was torn. This was routinely treated by the hospital staff and she had a good birth. ‘A TBA would not have known how to treat something like this. In hospital you are well looked after with the correct medicine’


Photograph: Aubrey Wade/Oxfam

Zainab Bah, 34, is eight and a half months pregnant. She is a housewife from Freetown. Her husband is a driver, and doesn’t have a regular salary. She has come to Lumley government hospital complaining of back pain and bad digestion. Bah’s first two children were delivered by a TBA and she bled a lot during both births. She heard about free maternal healthcare on the radio and has come to hospital worried because of her history of bleeding. After a check up, she is given the all clear and a prescription for an antacid, which would have cost LE15,000 ($4)


Photograph: Oxfam

Yawa Mattia, 27, brought her son, Alhusine, to Makeni government hospital with a fever. Alhusine has been in hospital four times already in his short life. Mattia's first child died. Mattia said: ‘I’m happy that the hospital is free, not just seeing the doctor but medicine too. Paying for my son’s care would have been difficult. I am a market vendor. I believe the doctors here have saved my son’s life’


Photograph: Oxfam

Rugiattu Jalloh, 20, and her son, Soulayeman, who is 18 months old, at Lumley government hospital. Soulayeman is recovering from measles and is covered in calamine lotion to soothe the itching. Jalloh is a haberdasher, selling needles, thread and buttons from her house. On a good day she turns over LE30,000 ($7.80) but business is slow and her husband is unemployed. She has three children and has always given birth with a TBA because of the cost. ‘Soulayeman’s treatment would have cost LE10,000 ($2.60). If I’d had to pay, the money would have come from my business – then I would have less money to buy stock and my business would suffer. I’m very happy treatment is now free. It feels like I’m adding more money to my business’


Photograph: Oxfam

Jariatu Bangura, 20, and son Soulayman, who is five months old. Bangura brought Soulayman to Makeni hospital because he had a fever and irregular breathing. The doctors did some tests and are now giving him free treatment for pneumonia

Photograph: Oxfam


Adama Bangura, 27, is a market trader, and her husband doesn’t work. She has four boys and two girls. Following the birth of her last child, Bangura decided she didn’t want any more children. She joined a planned parenthood programme and had a Depo-Provera injection. However, recently she began feeling unwell and experienced bleeding. She went to Princess Christian hospital in Freetown and an eptopic pregnancy was diagnosed. This is where a pregnancy develops outside the womb, and it can be fatal due to abdominal bleeding and blood loss. Bangura underwent emergency surgery and the doctors saved her life, but she lost her child. Prior to free maternal health an emergency operation like this would have cost around LE2m ($520). In addition, Bangura would have been charged LE1,000 per day for her bed fee. These costs would have been prohibitive for someone on her income

Photograph: Aubrey Wade/Oxfam

Ashma Turay, 23, and her four-day-old daughter, Edwina. Turay, who is at college studying to be a teacher, brought Edwina to Makeni hospital to receive free vaccinations. While pregnant she attended prenatal classes three days a week and all her treatment and medicine has been free. ‘I’m happy my baby is healthy and eating and sleeping well. I don’t want to have any more children for the time being. I want to finish my studies first. My grandmother is going to look after Edwina for me’


Photograph: Aubrey Wade/Oxfam


This women don't know how it came about. But they are really enjoying the benefits of whatever it is their Government did, its putting a smile on their faces. Its working for them, its saving their's and their babies lives,...and that is all that matters....really.

The main causes of maternal death in Nigeria can be avoided

Northern Nigeria is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be an expectant mother. Women who have had pre-natal care have a much better chance of delivering their babies safely


The delivery ward of Murtala Mohammed specialist hospital in Kano, Nigeria. The hospital encourages women to come in for pre-natal treatment. Photograph: Maggie Flick

In the delivery ward of Murtala Mohammed specialist hospital in Kano, northern Nigeria, the life and death of a mother and child depend on more than just the expertise of the medical staff. Whether women have received pre-natal advice or not is proving significant.


Zulfa'a Aminu gave birth to a healthy baby boy in the hospital's ward on a recent sweltering Wednesday. For her, giving birth in a hospital bed has become second nature. This is her third delivery at Murtala Mohammed.


But for another woman, who asked for anonymity, visiting Murtala Mohammed, the largest government-run hospital in Kano, the ancient Muslim trading city and urban hub of the vast, poor northern region of Nigeria, was an unfamiliar experience and a last resort. The care the maternity nurses were able to provide was not enough to save the life of her child, who was delivered minutes after Aminu's boy began crying. The staff here call this a "macerated birth" and say the baby died in the womb at least one day before being born – which was before her mother arrived at the hospital in serious pain.


The dedicated staff at Murtala Mohammed are on the forefront of the fight to reduce maternal mortality in northern Nigeria, one of the most dangerous places in the world to be an expectant mother. According to Unicef figures, the number of women who died from pregnancy related causes in Nigeria between 2005-09 was 550 per 100,000 live births, although this figure is estimated to be higher when adjusted for underreporting. In northern Nigeria the problem is particularly acute. A recent report by Columbia University on maternal and newborn health (pdf) in northern Nigeria said cultural beliefs and birth practices were more of a contributing factor to maternal morbidity than in the south.


Since Nigeria abandoned military rule 12 years ago, this hospital, and other government hospitals in densely populated Kano state, have pioneered efforts to provide quality, free pre-natal services.


Hauwa Mansour Waziri, the nurse who heads the hospital's pre-natal clinic, says that between 350 and 450 pregnant women, some as young as 15, now take advantage of these services each week. Some travel from neighbouring states to receive ultrasounds, counselling on "danger signs" in pregnancies, and information on nutrition. They are strongly urged to arrive at the hospital to deliver "while you can still walk". Those who wait until the last minute can endanger the life of their child.


With the help of public health organisations like USAid-funded Pathfinder and the MacArthur Foundation, midwives and nurses have been trained in simple but effective strategies for preventing post-partum haemorrhaging, formerly the cause of death for many mothers who delivered at Murtala Mohammed.


In 2009, the hospital opened a blood bank. Dr Bello Umar Dikko, an obstetrician-gynecologist by training and the chief medical officer at Murtala Mohammed, says this is dramatically improving the hospital's ability to give transfusions to mothers whose relatives may not be able to immediately donate or purchase the blood required in an emergency.


These medical efforts have been accompanied by community outreach to local religious leaders, many of whom now deliver messages on family planning and safe childbirth during the widely attended Friday prayers.


"[The imams] understand our angle to this story," says Dikko, noting that religious authorities, including the ulama council – comprised of imams who officially oversee Muslim affairs in the city – have welcomed dialogue with hospital staff and public health groups about how women in their communities can give birth more safely.


"The point we are making to our communities is that the major causes of maternal death can be avoided," said Halima Ben Umar, a Muslim women's activist in Kano who travels throughout the north to meet religious leaders and inform them about religiously sensitive family planning practices.


Umar says that in Kano and other northern cities, imams have begun extolling the virtues of leaving more time between giving birth, which can reduce the chances of complications for northern Nigerian women, nearly half of whom have become mothers by the age of 20 (pdf).


Aisha Hassan, head of the Kano state chapter of a Nigerian-wide Muslim women's group called Fomwan, says that religious leaders have been essential in delivering public health messages to community members who have been the most resistant to changing their childbirth practices. Some of the most resistant are older women, who do not believe young women should space out their pregnancies or give birth outside of the home.


While the progress made at Murtala Mohammed, and at many of the 17 other government-run hospitals in Kano, is a cause for hope, medical and public health officials in this dusty metropolis are quick to emphasise that their improved services are still not reaching the poor rural populations in small villages scattered across the edge of the Sahel desert.


"The reality is that for educated, wealthy people, maternal death is very low compared to the poor majority here," said Umar.


Dije Abdul, of Pathfinder, a group that has worked on maternal health in northern Nigeria for more than 30 years, says that it is working to build links between the facilities and resources available in urban areas and rural communities across Kano state.


For example, Pathfinder has recruited volunteers in villages who own cars to donate their time to drive women in labour to hospitals. In return, they receive fuel donations from their communities and from Pathfinder. Still, Abdul says, reaching the point where adequate and affordable services are available to mothers in the more than 1,000 health centres in Kano state will take time.


"We try to help everyone who arrives on our doorstep," said Hauwa Isa Borado, the chief matron of the maternity department at Murtala Mohammed, noting that the women who have already sought pre-natal care typically stand a much better chance of delivering safely.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/may/05/maternal-health-northern-nigeria-kano

President Jonathan And the Health Sector - We're Making Moves for the Right Changes - Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu

Professor C. Onyebuchi Chukwu is the Minister of Health. Before this meeting, the impression was one of a happy-go-professor. However, when you begin to throw questions at him, you discover that beneath that youthful look is a bundle of knowledge and information, both rolled into one, is power. In this encounter which had been long in coming, the Minister explains why Nigerians should be more information savvy especially when they hear that doctors or professionals in the health sector are embarking on industrial action.To the Minister, the health sector is getting better. He talks of his plans for the ministry and how President Goodluck Jonathan's commitment to good health for all has helped the ministry. According to him, "President Jonathan initiated one meeting for maternal and child health and he invited us - the Minister of State, the Permanent Secretary and I, along with his aides and, when we finished, he became happy because his thinking was that he would set up a committee to help but, after our presentation, he became impressed and directed that we should go before the National Economic Council where the governors are involved and we went there". Excerpts:

When you assumed duties as Minister of Health, one of the things you'd hoped to achieve was industrial harmony. How far would you say you've gone? And what were the challenges?

Well, we wouldn't say we've achieved our target of having a proper harmony.

But we started by getting the different parties involved to start talking - that was a good first step. It is, however, surprising that, at this stage, one was hoping that the presidential committee would have submitted its report. I'm anxious to receive that report but I know that they've been discussing on that platform. I also know that a number of bodies in the health sector have made the issue of industrial harmony at different fora the focus - the issue of industrial harmony and that is quite pleasing.

The industrial actions were becoming rather incessant and it was not just restricted to the doctors but the no-doctors too were getting involved and, on different occasions, I've had cause to decry the spate of strikes in the health sector.

Those were major challenges because when there are strikes, apart from the impact on the citizens, it also stops the minister in charge from carrying out his mandate as a minister and the country loses and anytime they resume work, it is as if we are starting all over again. These were the challenges.

In some states of the federation, when you hear that doctors are on strike, what sort of feeling does it invoke from within you?

When I hear that doctors are going on strike, it is an unusual phenomenon and strike is a weapon to be used; mind you, elsewhere in the world, doctors, too, do go on strike, but then, when you hear that doctors are on strike, the main thing that would strike you is that something very serious is in the offing and that, perhaps, doctors have exhausted all avenues of mediation and negotiation and the government is not disposed to continuing with the dialogue and, therefore, suggesting that it is a failure on the part of the government because we expect that, for doctors to stop seeing patients, then the blame should lay squarely on the doorsteps of government. But, at the end of the day, when you now get to know of the reasons doctors are on strike, then you become disappointed.

At some point, some people had misquoted you or quoted you rightly, that you've been disappointed at the conduct of the doctors or that you've actually had cause to plead with them. Now, which had been and is your position between these two extremes?

My position has never changed. Ordinarily, doctors providing essential services should never be seen to be going on strike. They should never go on strike.

However, if they are pushed to the wall, they can invoke that right which workers have, but then, they have to do it properly.

It would have been clear to government that negotiations have indeed broken down; it would have been clear that government is no longer willing to give in; it would have been clear that what the doctors are asking for are so basic and so important that if the prayers are not granted, then the doctors won't be able to perform, then for that reason, they are free to exercise that right - but such conditions are very few and I don't see such conditions happening every year let alone happening frequently the way it has been in the last few months.

Doctors, like people providing essential services ought not to go on strike, but there may be occasions where these things can happen but, under my tenure as minister, I don't see these things happening.

There is supposed to be a National Health Bill and Nigerians are hoping that this should have been passed. What is causing the delay?

The only thing we're hoping for is the resumption by the National Assembly.

One is hopeful that the two chambers can harmonise. It's been passed in both chambers and pressure is being put on them. Even the members are also interested and committed to having the bill passed before the end of this session of the National Assembly.

That is where the separation of powers comes in because much as the executive - as represented by the minister and the president- want the bill passed on time, the National Assembly must be allowed to do its job and the members are doing it. We are eager to have it.

To what extent do you see the bill solving the problems in the health sector?

The bill is something that would guide all of us. It is not as if the bill is a magic wand that would solve all the problems of the health sector but the idea is that the bill would let local governments, state governments and the federal government work together, performing and coordinating among themselves and, right now, there is nothing that guides us in that regard.

However, the bill, when passed, would not be a toothless bulldog. The bill would strengthen our health care policy and it starts at the primary level.

The thinking is that if we get it right at the primary healthcare level, then we will get it right overall.

Primary healthcare would also be better funded because it would then mean that by law, special allocation is made, without recourse to the budgetary allocation for primary healthcare and it also means that, in terms of coordination, in terms of working together, which is very vital to providing healthcare to Nigerians, things would be properly done.

Nigeria's newborn mortality rate is very embarrassing, even by African standards. Now, as the Minister of Health, when you look at the realities on ground and the efforts of the ministry, what would you say is responsible for this in a country where people believe that things are not right?

There are many factors that are used to determine life expectancy and some of them are not in the hands of the health sector or the Minister of Health.

Take, for instance, what has been happening regarding the killings in the north over the election, the deaths are going to be used to compute the life expectancy of Nigerians because the deaths from that violence are going to be computed and I do not see how the Minister of Health is culpable.

Apart from joining other well-meaning Nigerians in condemning the killings and pray that politicians learn that this matter is not a do or die affair, things like road traffic accidents are used and it is those who survive that are my responsibility. We do not have natural disaster here.

All the things that happen in the health sector impact positively or negatively. A good example is if a pregnant woman dies in the process of moving from point A to point B and because of bad roads or lack of transportation.

We should be happy that natural disasters do not happen in this part of the world.

We know the areas where we are supposed to continue to improve health care delivery system and the life expectancy of Nigerians and we're doing them.

Like which areas?

We are rehabilitating and re-equipping many of the tertiary hospitals and some of them are ready for commissioning but we are not waiting for that because some of them are already in use. We've also been able to introduce a new drug on our essential drugs list.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201105021367.html

Agenda for the Jinx Breaker

A wonderful piece by: Ayo Oyoze Baje
3 May 2011


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One sweet victory leads to new challenges. As it is with other aspects of life, so it is with politics.

With a plethora of socio-economic problems bedeviling Nigeria's political spectrum, the newly elected President, Goodluck Jonathan has to hit the ground running. If there was ever any excuse before now, that he was not democratically elected, that has since been proved wrong.

Given the tremendous goodwill he has so far enjoyed from the good people of Nigeria, as reflected in the pan-Nigerian voting that saw him clinch the presidency, with over 25 per cent votes in more than 31 out of the 36 states he cannot afford to let the people down. Delivering good governance to the electorate has become an imperative. It must be admitted however, that he cannot do it all alone. He has to set the template for us to see governance as a collective responsibility.

There is no denying the fact that the supernatural element of good luck (true to his name) has seen him thus far. Within a short space of two years this former university lecturer rose through the rungs as deputy governor, acting governor, then a governor, Vice President, Acting President and ultimately the President upon the demise of former President, Umaru Yar'Adua (of blessed memory.) Furthermore, he is the first Nigerian from a minority ethnic group (Ijaw) to be democratically elected as the president of Africa's most populous nation.

The Mandate


But even more significant however, is the question on the lips of almost every Nigerian. Would such a factor of good luck rub off positively on the quality of life of the average citizen and translate into a transformative system of government from now till 2015? Despite the robust macro-economic indices of Nigeria having earned $200 trillion dollars from crude oil since 1958 there have been persisting problems of insecurity, a drastic dip in the Human Development Index, HDI. There is an upswing in hunger, diseases, illiteracy, with one of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the world since 1999.

Can the Jonathan-led administration break the vicious cycle and jinx of want and waste in the midst of wealth, and grinding poverty in the axis of plenty?

The Challenge


Notably, corruption on the part of the political elite, fuelled by jumbo pay of serving politicians with recurrent expenditure running as high as over 80 per cent has to be tackled frontally, more by action than through fruitless policies. The social structure is, more or less like that of a termitarium,(anthill) with the king and queen(the favoured politicians) constantly fed by the tireless workers. Here, the motive for political office is driven more by self aggradisement than as an altruistic service for the common good.

Thus, Nigeria paints the picture of a nation of several paradoxes. It is inconceivable that the country, which leads the world in the production of cassava and yam still suffers from food insecurity. Similarly, it leads Africa in oil and gas production yet, still depends on fuel importation to provide its energy needs. While South Africa with a population of 40 million people generates 36,000 MW, Nigeria with a population of 150 million generates a paltry 3,500MW from hydro-power and unstable gas supply.

Security

Indeed, prevailing mass youth unemployment is such that both the World Bank and the International Labour Organisation, ILO have described it as a time bomb. Only recently, a wave of wanton wasting of precious lives swept through the Northern States like a wild fire. The orgy of blood-letting violence perpetrated by armed youth left in its wake over 200 dead, including defenceless youth corpers, as well as over 400 wounded and over 48,000 citizens, especially Southern Christians displaced.

That, coming after the frequent killings in Plateau State and the Boko-Haram mayhem in Bauchi and Borno States underscores the essence and imperative of increased youth education, inter-religious harmony and the restructuring of Nigeria as a true federation.

The Way Forward

For President Jonathan to succeed, prompt consideration must be given to these suggestions:

•Assembling a team of tested technocrats, from within and outside the country , irrespective of political persuasion to drive the process of good governance. Their efforts should serve to bridge the wide gap between our God-given potentialities and the harsh economic reality on ground.

•Convocation of a Sovereign National Conference, involving representatives of the stakeholders in the polity to fashion out a new Constitution that guarantees true, fiscal federalism.

•Let every state control its natural resources and pay a small per centage to the centre. The Federal Government does not need to control up to 52 percent of the Federation Account. The recent proposal by the Govcernor Fashola-led Panel that 35 per cent goes to the Federal Gove4rnment,42 per cent to the states and 23 percent to the local governments should be given speedy consideration as a first step to fiscal federalism.

•Let the State governments control their police and establish community policing to stem the tide of insecurity.

•Let the State governments be more actively involved in education, agriculture, healthcare delivery and power generation.

•Let the salaries and emoluments of political office holders be drastically scaled down, in line with the civil service structure. This would reduce the do-or-die quest for political power and devolve more funds into governance.

•Let the Federal Government pursue the issue of the privatization of the power sector to its logical conclusion.

•Let the Federal Government consolidate on the gains of a free, fair and credible elections that reflect the wishes of the people so that the elected representatives can be held accountable for their actions and inactions. History beckons on him to be a jinx breaker in Nigeria's polity. I wish him good luck.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201105040822.html

AFRIBABY canvases six months maternity leave for Nigerian women

By NJOKU ONYEKACHI JET
Chief Executive Officer N-HANSER, Dr. Odion Oscar Odibo, has said that if government does not provide enabling environment for nursing mothers to exclusively breastfeed their babies for six months as stipulated by law, then, all it is doing is policy summersault.
It is on this basis that Odibo who is the coordinator; African International Baby Exhibition (Afribaby) is canvassing for a six months maternity leave for women.

In this chat with Daily Sun, he disclosed that his organization has finalized plans to send a Bill to the National Assembly to pursue the cause. He also, spoke on the concept of Afribaby.
The concept

The concept of Afribaby is to create synergy, coordination, and connectivity between all organizations, institutions, companies that have one thing or the other to do with babies. Ensure that different organizations cooperate and help themselves, ultimately, our babies will be the beneficiaries of such cooperation because we have a scenario where infant mortality and even, maternal mortality is very high. There’s no doubt about that.

We’re doing this because; there isn’t the right atmosphere or connectivity between different organizations doing different things for babies. We have baby-friendly hospitals where there are pediatricians who’re doing their best in their own enclave. We have orphanages that are picking up and taking care of motherless babies. You have banks that have products for newborn babies. There’re crèches that take care of babies in the absence of their mothers, particularly, daycare centres.

We have even non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are advocating on baby matters, we have pharmaceutical companies producing drugs for babies. So, all these organizations work separately but there’s no connection between them. They cannot even help themselves and they need help. So, the idea of Afribaby is to bring them together so that they can harness fully, what each has to offer and ultimately, help our babies and humanity.
What mothers stand to gain

Mothers stand to gain a lot. Because if you look at the concept of Afribaby, it concerns mothers, fathers, babies and our society. Part of the content of Afribaby is education and enlightenment. Often, we have a symposium where we deal with matters that are arising or are in the front burner. Our last exhibition and symposium dealt with issues on breastfeeding, career development and motherhood. These days, we have mothers that are also working; they’re assisting their husbands to contribute to their wellbeing. And some are single parents. We’re looking at this vis-a-vise the question of maternity leave.

Talking about maternity leave, the law grants only three months. But, federal Ministry of Health – the state government, the medical community, the World Health Organization (WHO), are saying six months exclusive breastfeeding. So, how do you reconcile this? This issue was what we trashed out at that symposium where it came to the fore that government should do something. If they’re saying that mothers should have exclusive breastfeeding for six moths, they should provide enabling environment for them to be able to do so. That is make maternity leave, six months.

If they’re not able to do so, all of that is mere policy summersault. Its mere talk. So, these are the areas where mothers stand to gain. We want to encourage breastfeeding. We want to ensure that it is not just for you to have exclusive breastfeeding for six months but for as long as two years. I was breastfed for two years. And I know that mothers stand to gain in breastfeeding through Afribaby’s campaign.

For fathers, we have a babies’ competition. This competition is meant to have fathers around. If daddy is not in attendance, then you’re not qualified. So, we use that opportunity to drum our message about exclusive breastfeeding because you cannot have exclusive breastfeeding when the father does not support the woman –help with finances, house chores, and other things that could take away the woman’s attention from breastfeeding.
Nannies

Part of the Afribaby project is to train nannies. Now, let me quickly run through the projects. First, we have the symposium, which deals with the issue as they arise. We have the babies’ competition, then, you have nannies training. The nannies training is meant to modernize our nannies, to help them to have latest knowledge about care giving. And to help change some of the terrible things we have witnessed in the business of care giving.

For instance, you give your baby to a caregiver, because you have to go to work; we have discovered that in some cases, some nannies, not all of them; give pill to the babies so they can sleep off. And this is very, very dangerous. When this is done again and again - and the parents are not even aware of a thing like this; what happens? After a while, the baby begins to become abnormal. And you begin to wonder, why is my baby behaving abnormally. You wouldn’t know it was as result of what has been done to that baby at the care centre, under the care of the nanny.
Again, some of these nannies or day care centres hire out these babies for alms begging. And the parents do not know. You’d be at work, thinking that everything is well or that your baby is safe. But, something can go wrong. Now, we want to sensitize nannies on these problems. We want to change this habit and ensue that care giving is given appropriately.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/goodhealth/2011/may/03/goodhealth-03-05-2011-03.htm

Group canvasses govt funding of family planning

From PATRICK AKPUH, Ibadan

The link between family planning, maternal morbidity, national development and the need for government funding of contraception advocacy and services was at the centre of a media sensitization programme recently at Odedeme hall, D’Rovans Hotel, Ibadan the Oyo State capital.
At the forum were officials of the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) and selected group of journalists from both the print and electronic media.

The state team leader of NURHI, Mrs. Stella Akinso, on a special presentation, stated that an average of 750,000 abortions occurred in Nigeria every year, and that 35 per cent of them were by married women.
For many poor couples, said Akinso, sex was the cheapest recreational activity. And as a matter of fact, most men in rural areas and urban slums beat their wives if refused sex. Given the proclivity of men to having sex, without necessary family planning safeguard, the attendant result was often unplanned pregnancy, which often than not called for abortion, she observed.
Most poor women are caught in this trap, because they lack access to safe and voluntary family planning services, Akinso remarked at the advocacy session. She also noted that family planning was sometimes perceived as a foreign idea, hence the reluctance of many people to embrace it.

But according to her, family planning has been practised in typical traditional African societies since the olden days. “In those days, a man would send his wife and baby to her mother’s place in order to allow her wean her baby and also avoid the temptation of having sex. There are other methods which are considered fetish though. They involve the use of charms in form of rings, waist bands and padlocks. The age long withdrawal method is also a pregnancy prevention method, although it is widely considered unreliable”, she explained.

Today, Akinso said ,there is a long list of modern and highly effective methods of contraception, but regretted that issues like religious belief, myths and superstitions militate against the adoption of family planning which, she stresses, is the surest way of reducing maternal and child mortality. But, couples may find family planning unaffordable, or may not even know where and how to access it.

Akinso attributes this to the fact that the Nigerian Government does not dedicate any fund in pursuit of Family Planning programmes. Indeed, family planning programmes in Nigeria are largely donor- driven. She also said that the trend would deal the biggest blow to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria. In her words, |no human centered programme in the world has a stronger link to the MDGs than Family Planning and Reproductive Health”. According to Akinso, the actualization of the MDGs lies deeply in the core of a well planned family. The NURHI state team leader therefore called on the Government to make budgetary allocations for Family Planning and Reproductive Health programmes in order to make the services affordable to poor women whom are most susceptible to reproductive health and child spacing problems. NURHI, she says, focuses on urban areas because, according to statistics, about 47per cent of Nigerians live in urban environments, with most of them in urban slums, and it is projected that by 2035, 50 per cent of Nigeria’s poor would be living in urban areas.

Dr. (Mrs.) Celina Johnson, the Private Sector Advisor of NURHI, while recently inaugurating the Family Planning Providers Network (FPPN) at Kakanfo Inn, Joyce B Road, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, group’s advocacy goal is to increase funding mechanisms for family planning so that the services could be affordable and always available.
She also says that NURHI hopes to increase the involvement of men in Family Planning issues as well as dispel myths and superstitions surrounding family planning.

Regretting that the family planning programmes are not covered under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Mrs. Akinso promised that her group would not rest until Government and major stakeholders are deeply involved.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/goodhealth/2011/may/03/goodhealth-03-05-2011-02.htm

Amalar Antimalarial Drug Not Banned - WHO

The Nigeria office of the World Health Organisation and the National Malaria Control Programme, Federal Ministry Health, have dispelled fears of possible ban of Amalar antimalarial drugs.

Amalar tablets, composed of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) was reported to have been prohibited along with other monotherapies for the treatment of malaria.

The report which created panic in the pharmaceutical market last week, was dispelled by the two bodies who denied its ban and reinstated its efficacy particularly in the malaria prevention and control in pregnancy.

Information officer of WHO, Dr Ola Soyinka denied the report, insisting that it was untrue. He explained that Amalar as well as other drugs with similar composition -Suifadoxine/ pyrimethamine is one of the most effective therapies for the prevention and control of malaria in pregnancy.

He said the WHO recommends that oral artemisinin-based monotherapy should be removed from the market because their use will hasten the development of parasite resistance .

In the same vein, Dr Jide Coker National Coordinator National Malaria Control programme Federal Ministry of Health, denied the ban, insisting that the National malaria policy of the ministry recommends the drugs for Intermittent Prevention Treatment IPT in pregnancy Malaria in pregnancy is a major cause of maternal morbidity worldwide and leads to poor birth outcomes.

Pregnant women are more prone to complications of malaria infection than nongravid women.

WHO recommends a package of interventions for prevention and control of malaria during pregnancy. This comprises Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPT) to address the heavy burden of asymptomatic infections among pregnant women residing in areas of moderate or high transmission of P. falciparum, use of insecticide treated nets (ITNs), and access to effective case management for malaria illness and anaemia.

Presently, sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) is the only antimalarial medicine for which data on efficacy and safety for IPT is available from controlled clinical trials, and WHO recommends that at least 2 doses of SP are given during regularly scheduled antenatal visits after the first trimester.

President Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria PSN Mr Azubuike Okwor said the drug procurement channels are highly fragmented resulting in too many antimalarials of varying quality on the market.

"Poor-quality medicines affect the health and lives of patients, damage the credibility of health services and, by generating sub-therapeutic drug levels in malaria patients, help develop resistance to this important life-saving class of pharmaceuticals".

To mark this year's World Malaria Day, Malaria Society of Nigeria last week organised a Road show/ free malaria screening exercise for residence of Ajeromi/Ifelodun Local Government Area of Lagos State

http://allafrica.com/stories/201105030601.html