Medical experts have called for improved maternal healthcare in Nigeria.
Gatekeepers News reports that the medical experts made this call at the 2022 Safer Hands Health Initiative (SHI) Maternal Health Summit in Collaboration with MWAN Lagos and National Young Doctors Forum.
This virtual summit brought together stakeholders – medical professionals, non-governmental, government and multilateral organisations, nurses, midwives, community pharmacists, and the general public to discuss and commit themselves to improved healthcare in the nation.
The theme of the summit was “Improving Maternal Health and Rights towards sustainable development.”
Oluwarotimi Akinola, a Professor of Obstetrician & Gynaecologist who spoke as the first keynote speaker at the virtual summit stressed that families, communities and the nation suffer when women don’t get the healthcare they need.
As part of efforts to reduce the maternal mortality rate, Akinola proposed that “raising the socio-economic status of women, starting with universal basic education would delay the age of marriage, reduce the quantum of teenage pregnancy deliver quality decision making with regards to fertility and health-seeking behaviour.
“Invariably the next exit arising from the first is the enhancement of the uptake of family planning, thereby reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies and consequent unsafe abortions.”
He stated that dismantling the maternal death road or at least opening up the blocked exits is beyond hospitals and classrooms.
The Professor of Obstetrician & Gynaecologist, therefore, charged governments, civil societies, parliaments, health workers, and journalists to address the root causes of maternal death, adding that “women’s rights are human’s rights.”
Akinola further called for improvement in the status of women through the provision of universal basic education, provision of universal health care, the promotion of adolescent sexual and reproductive health rights, an increase in the national contraceptive prevalence rate, and relaxation of the restrictive abortion laws.
Ololade Wright, a Professor of Public Health, while delivering the second keynote address on the topic “The Role Of Community-based Primary Health Care On Improving Maternal Health Rights” said the high Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in a country is a strong indication of a weak health system.
Wright lamented that human and financial resources are often diverted from various health programs to respond to infectious disease outbreaks during public health emergencies, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the sexual and reproductive health services.
In order to reduce or completely eradicate the maternal mortality ratio, Wright recommended effective communication between maternity care providers and women in labour using simple and culturally acceptable methods.
She added that a companion of choice is recommended for all women throughout labour and childbirth.
Dr. Oluwakemisola Agoyi Awoniyi, Program Manager SHI and convener of the summit, while giving her vote of thanks, charged participants of the summit to be committed to improving maternal healthcare in the country.
SHI also called Safer hands is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to providing and ensuring access to basic maternal and child health care services in under-served communities.
