Despite intervention maternal deaths still high – FG

Despite several interventions to reduce the death of women from preventable causes, the ratio of women who die has remained static and high, the acting Director of the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), Malam Sadeeq Omar, has said. The NCWD boss who was speaking at a two-day peer review meeting on a report of […]

Despite several interventions to reduce the death of women from preventable causes, the ratio of women who die has remained static and high, the acting Director of the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), Malam Sadeeq Omar, has said.
The NCWD boss who was speaking at a two-day peer review meeting on a report of the 2016 update on maternal health indicators in Nigeria, yesterday, at the Women Centre in Abuja, noted that the maternal deaths ratio was still 243 per a 100,000 live births.
He said though it was difficult to collect data in Nigeria because most significant births and deaths occurred at home or outside health centres, a lot of factors still hindered women from accessing care.
His said: “The barriers to accessing quality maternal health services are created by many factors including poverty, women’s limited access to education and income, nutritional problems and poor or non-existent transport, road and communications infrastructure in conflict or post- conflict situations.”
He listed other factors as “poor access to health services also mean virtually non- existent access to malaria, HIV treatment, prevention, care and support, modern contraception and skilled birth personnel at delivery.”
The consultant, Professor Muhammed Taofik Ladan, said the workshop was to assess progress in addressing maternal health problems and challenges, including the complex causes, magnitude and trend of maternal mortality rates and its impact on the reproductive health rights of women in Nigeria.
He added that the survey was carried out in two selected states in each of the six geo- political zones of the federation and in two local government areas, wherein they selected one urban and one rural locations in the selected states for comparative analysis.
The states in zone A which is the North- east are Gombe and Taraba; zone B, the North- west are Kaduna and Katsina states; and zone C, North-central which has Nasarawa and Niger states.
Others are zone D, South- south with Delta and Akwa Ibom states; zone E, South- west which has Lagos and Oyo states; and zone F, with South -east having Imo and Abia states.