‘Free health can reduce maternal, infant mortality in Nigeria’
The joy of every couple is to have their own child, with both the mother and child alive after birth. This may be an aborted joy, however, if either the mother or child dies before, during or after birth.
An Umuahia, Abia State resident, Nkechi Ndubuisi, preferred the traditional birth attendants to be delivered of her baby. Neighbours (or family relatives) confirmed that while she was at it, she had prolonged labour that lasted for two days, during which her child’s foetal heartbeat reduced. She was eventually rushed to an orthodox hospital.
“At the hospital, she insisted on a vaginal delivery, despite the fact that her baby was dying slowly out of stress. She could not make it as she eventually died with the baby,” her friend, Lillian Onyerika narrated.
Some call it ignorance, others refer to it as stubborness, but the fact is that the death of women and babies persists during delivery.
In a 2017 report by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Factbook, in Nigeria, out of 100,000 live births, 814 women died during childbirth, pregnancy or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy. The Factbook also revealed that the infant mortality rate in Nigeria was 69.8 deaths per 1,000 live births. Death of male children was said to be 74.5, while that of the female in 2017 was 64.8 per 1,000 live births.
Similarly, the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, said that in 2017, neonatal deaths accounted for 32 per cent of the death of infants below five years old, adding that the death of one in every three new babies in the country was due to preterm, and that 831,100 babies were born prematurely in Nigeria.
A joint report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and World Bank also revealed that Nigeria recorded 58,000 cases of maternal mortality in 2015.
Nigeria is said to have the second highest burden of maternal mortality in the world and contributes about 15 per cent of the annual total global deaths, which represents two per cent of the global population.
To stem the trend, MTN Foundation and the Abia State Ministry of Health, alongside other relevant healthcare agencies, organised an initiative tagged the ‘Yellow Heart Initiative’. The step was taken to reduce maternal and child mortality by increasing the level of awareness and perception of the phenomenon in Nigeria, and to align with global efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals health targets.
During the launch of the initiative in Umuahia, there was a panel discussion on maternal and child health, as well as on antenatal and post-natal sensitization for pregnant women. Also, there was a distribution of delivery kits for pregnant women around the state, and an awareness walk tagged “Walk for Life”, which was spearheaded by the Abia State governor’s wife, Mrs Nkechi Ikpeazu.
Officials of the initiative said 24 maternal wards had been renovated across the country on that platform, while the ‘Y’ello Doctor’, a project which supports the medical needs of mothers and children through mobile clinics, had been commissioned in six states and Abuja. The six states are Ogun, Abia, Kaduna, Niger, Cross River and Oyo. The second phase, they said, would focus on states in the North, like Sokoto, Kaduna, Zamfara and Yobe, which they said had higher infant and maternal mortality rates.
According to the Director, MTN Foundation, Mr Dennis Okoro, “We discovered that most deaths of mothers and children in our communities can be prevented using existing knowledge, and proven costeffective interventions. This is why we hope to use the Yellow Heart Initiative to address predominant issues such as attitude and cultural practices that hinder women and children from accessing healthcare services in the society.
“The Yellow Heart Initiative is poised to reduce mother and child mortality in Nigeria. Reducing maternal mortality in Nigeria should be a collective effort. Together, we will work to make high maternal and infant mortality rates a thing of the past.”
Expressing the appreciation of the state government, Mrs Ikpeazu commended the MTN Foundation on the Yellow Heart Initiative project and other impactful projects the network provider had commissioned in the state. She said that the development aligned with the healthcare objective of the state.
The state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr John Ahukannah, said that the initiative would help to improve the health and survival rate of women and children in Abia State. “It is noteworthy that we have put emphasis on the development and improvement of primary health care, especially with the vulnerable groups in the state. Abia State is focusing on enhancing health promotion and education, disease prevention, curative and rehabilitative services. This is very much in line with the Yellow Heart Initiative and we call on all Abians to take full advantage of this timely intervention. We are working towards improving the indices of our maternal and infant mortality. We want to reduce the scourge of malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia,” he said.
Stressing the need for an equipped PHC, the Permanent Secretary, Abia State Ministry of Health, Mr Agomoh Nkwachukwu, revealed that out of over 700 PHCs in the state, 300 had been renovated to cater for the health needs of the mother, child and the vulnerable.
“Health services and immunizations will be free in all the 300 PHCs. It will be opened for 24 hours, and it is well-equipped with basic facilities and personnel. We also provide free delivery kits to be given to all pregnant women so that they won’t need to buy anything when going to the hospital for delivery. We have also made provisions for a stipend to be given to a woman after she delivers so she can use the money to cater for her new child. All this is to reduce the maternal and infant mortality rate in Abia to zero. All these will take effect from 2018,” Nkwachukwu said.
Child delivery in a private hospital in Umuahia, the capital of Abia State, according to Onyerika, costs between N18,000 and N25,000. As for the caesarean section (CS), the price ranges from N120,000 to N150,000. The high price, she said, has been a major reason many women prefer to use the vaginal delivery method.
Recounting her ordeal, Onyerika, a mother of four, said she would have lost her baby (three months old) during delivery. “I was in labour for two days. On the third day, I was told my child’s foetal beat had dropped from 148 to 132 due to prolonged labour. I had no choice than to opt for CS to save the life of my child. Many women had died due to their refusal to do CS, while many others lost their babies in the process. This is something preventable. Many don’t even want to visit the hospital for ante-natal,” Onyerika, a nurse, said.
She said that many women do visit her to be delivered of their babies, but she always referred them to the hospital when there were complications. “Many women die unnecessarily because they insist on vaginal delivery, which may not be possible for them. It is better to do CS and see your child than to insist on the vaginal delivery and die during the process or lose that child.”
Onyerika advised women, “Maternal mortality can be reduced. Once a woman is pregnant, she should go for her ante-natal and eat fruits and food rich in iron, vitamins, carbohydrates and protein, and ensure she is delivered of her baby in a hospital or PHC. Once the child is out, she should ensure she breast-feed such child exclusively for six months. During that time, she needs to eat well, otherwise the quality of the breast milk won’t be okay. Right from birth till the baby becomes five years, she should ensure she takes that child for all immunizations so the child won’t be a burden for her in the future.
“Taking a child for Immunization may seem stressful for the mother, but it pays on the long run. Prevention is better than cure. It is better the mother sacrifices her time to take the child for Immunization no matter how busy she might be, rather than let the child suffer for it in the future.”