How FG can tackle maternal mortality –Experts

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Medical practitioners have decried the high maternal mortality rates among pregnant women in the country, calling on the Federal Government to adopt a more holistic approach to address the problem.
To curb the menace, one of the medical practitioners, Dr Mercy Luka, has recommended an effective training and proper monitoring of activities of Traditional Birth Attendants across the country.
Nigeria’s Maternal Mortality Ratio has remained alarmingly high for several years now which experts say was totally unacceptable.
According to the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, MMR in Nigeria is 576 deaths per 100,000 live births and this figure, experts say is just an estimate as not every death is documented.
Luka noted that basic capacity building would assist the TBAs handle birth deliveries with minimal complications.
According to her, the TBAs need to be trained on improved hygiene, what need to be done, when to do it and how important the health of the patient is.
She said that knowledge of hygiene was very important because infections were major causes of most child and maternal mortality.
Luka said that the TBAs must also be trained to identify and make early referral of the patients if either complications or problems were ever to arise.
“When TBAs handle birth delivery, they sometimes lead to complications such as the death of either the mother or child.
“The reason is because they either don’t have the right skills or don’t know what need to be done and when to do it,’’ she said.
The medical practitioner said that women who patronised TBAs face higher risk of having complications during delivery.
She noted that most complications which likely arose from such situations usually lead to both child and mother’s death.
“Some TBAs use tools that are not properly sterilised, which in turn causes infections that may lead to problems for the mother, the child or even infertility,” she said.
According to her, expectant mothers at the grassroots prefer TBAs because the Primary Health Centres at the communities are not functioning well and lack basic facilities.