By IJEOMA UKAZU
A reproductive health expert has decried the growing number of women and children deaths in the country, noting that more awareness on health, child spacing and nutrition needed to stem the tide.
Speaking during a three-day online media training for health reporters organised by Rotary Action Group for Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health, RMCH, the Director, Department of Family Health, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Salma Anas-Kolo lamented that, “On a daily basis, we have many women and children dying, larger than COVID-19. Every year, 40,000 to 50,000 women die from pregnancy and childbirth-related causes, but most of them are not reported.”
Anas-Kolo said, over 90 percent of these deaths in both mothers and children less than five years are preventable, stating that each life is important and every death of a woman or child should be accounted for.
She further stated that the federal government was also set to increase the involvement of religious leaders with large followership in giving information about maternal and newborn health, nutrition and child spacing to ensure quality of life and nation-building.
While giving his presentation, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, College of Medicine, University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan, Prof. Christopher Aimakhu said, to curb the high maternal and child deaths, Nigeria needs to fully meet women’s need for contraceptive services and maternal/newborn health care which cost about $5 billion each year.
According to Aimakhu, “Nigeria would need about $26.09 per capita, a total that is roughly the same cost as meeting the need for maternal and newborn care alone. If full provision of modern contraception were combined with adequate care for all pregnant women and their newborns, maternal deaths would drop by 68 percent (from 61,000 to 19,000 per year) and newborn deaths would drop by 85 percent (from 255,000 to 38,000 per year).”
Aimakhu, who is also the Secretary General of the Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria, SOGON, said that unintended pregnancies, unplanned births and abortions would reduce drastically if women’s needs were met.
He added, “If all unmet need for modern contraception in Nigeria were satisfied, unintended pregnancies would drop by 77 percent, from 2.5 million to 555,000 per year.
“As a result, the annual number of unplanned births would decrease from 885,000 to 200,000 and the number of abortions would drop from 1.3 million to 287,000.00.”
The Obstetrician and Gynaecologist call on local and international non-governmental organizations, government parastatals, civil society organisations, faith-based organisations, religious and traditional leaders, to address socio-cultural barriers and limitations to family planning services as well as appropriate health information would as it would help break barriers of misinformation.
Contributing, the National Coordinator, National Family Planning Campaign Rotary, RMCH, Nigeria, Professor Emmanuel Adedolapo Lufadeju, said that family planning was important to improve the chances of child survival and population management in Nigeria.
Lufadeju urged the media for more reporting on family planning issues for better sustainable development of the country.