IN reaffirmation of the centrality of women’s health to human development, the death of a woman from maternal causes is to become a reportable occurrence in Nigeria. Currently, Nigeria has an average maternal death rate of over 600 dealths per 100,000 live births.
Disclosing this development at the end of a meeting with the Nigerian Country Caucus during the just concluded 3rd Global Women’s Conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Minister of State for Health, Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate, said the intended
move is one of the mutual agreements for stemming the tide of maternal death in the country towards attainment of the Millennium Development Goal, MDG 4.
Pate, who held a ministerial forum with Nigerian Civil Society leaders under the theme “Country Caucus and Policy Dialogue: Advancing Commitments to Reproductive and Maternal Health” told Good Health Weekly of his conviction that maternal deaths should be notifiable.
“I strongly agree with the forum that maternal deaths should be notifiable. It is a positive call to action, not about sharing blame, but to learn what to do to fix the problem so that it does not happen again.”
“No woman should die unnoticed. When a woman dies from maternal causes, it should be reported. This will enable lessons to be learned. This way, civil society should help us to bring such instances to the fore ,” Pate argued.
The goal of the 2-day country caucus was to identify shared priorities and opportunities for advancing commitments to maternal, newborn, and reproductive health throughout the participating countries that included Nigeria, Ethiopia, Rwanda, India and Indonesia. Others were South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
The forum was aimed at providing political leaders with a platform to engage in dialogue with civil society and reinforce mechanisms for on-going collaboration, joint planning, and information-sharing in each country.
Maternal mortality
Giving a rundown of the outcome of the forum, the Minister of State for Health said Nigeria shared successes with the Midwifery Services Scheme and the SURE-P Pre-maternal Health and Child programme which has so far reached 1,500 facilities, and one million women in the last year, while the Maternal Mortality Ratio has reduced by 47 percent in 2012 compared to 2009 in facilities of intervention.
“At the Ministerial forum, we were able to learn from successes of other countries, there were learning points and there is alot more that we can do to go forward.
“In contrast with the past, it was acknowleged that even in the face of notable challenges, there are areas in which Nigeria is doing reasonably well, and this has been acknowleged.”
Further, Pate argued that the role played by President Goodluck Jonathan in enabling provision of the life saving commodities, was acknowleged, particularly for making them available for the child, mothers and newborns.
“This is just the beginning, and there is a lot more work ahead for the country in tackling the MDG 4 and 5 agenda towards 2015. “But we have proven that it can be done. It was great to be here to share that, and also to learn from others, for instance Niger had a school for husbands and Senegal presented a model for pushing commodities, and
“In general there is an alignment. Civil Society and the government are working in the same direction. We discussed the issue of data. Six years ago, people were giving all kinds of estimates about maternal mortality, it was only in 2008 that we had good household survey that showed us true picture of maternal mortality.
“Right now we arare having another survey in 2014 that will be giving us a more robust data about what has been done in the last five years. But that we should be more fact based, more open in sharing information, both civil society and government and should have a forum to take stock with CSO to take stock of progress.”
Pate who noted he was a bit skeptical at first,said his feeling was that more of such issues should be discussed in Nigeria. “I also mentioned to the caucus that when you look at the situation in Nigeria, relative to other countries, we are endowed with quality human resources which, sometimes, does not always translate into better outcomes, and the challenge is out of execution, not talk, but actually getting things done. But it would be fair to things are getting better where they are so that people can go and check.
So in the context of what we shared, there are the facilities where we have posted Midwives and the women attending, and their telephone numbers, and the commodities that are being bought.
“That is very real, and that peple should be able venture and check. Go out on the field, that is the way to make progress. Let us not take the bad apple theory. If you look at the system and try to fix it, you’ll find you cannot fix a complex system overnight. You fix it by picking on an area, working hard on it over time, and the entire system will feel the impact of that change.
“That is what we have done. We have human resources, primary health care, commodities and stated to do afew things here and there. There is improvement, it hasn’t solved everything, but there is improvement. “We shouldnt take other people’s narrative, we should tell our own story. Every country has its problem, but Nigeria is in its stride. It hasn’t solved all its own problems, but these problems can be solved.
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