Emergency transport scheme helps reduce maternal mortality

A pilot emergency transport scheme has helped reduce maternal mortality in four northern states and saved the lives of 19,000 pregnant women. The scheme which is an initiative of Health Partners International has been on trial since 2009 in Jigawa, Katsina, Yobe and Zamfara. The project is funded by the MacArthur Foundation, and covered 4.3 […]

A pilot emergency transport scheme has helped reduce maternal mortality in four northern states and saved the lives of 19,000 pregnant women.
The scheme which is an initiative of Health Partners International has been on trial since 2009 in Jigawa, Katsina, Yobe and Zamfara.
The project is funded by the MacArthur Foundation, and covered 4.3 million population, with 1,592 communities reached.
Speaking during an assessment workshop in Abuja, senior partner of the project, Emmanuel Sokpo said the pilot study was designed to ensure women in rural areas have access to health care facilities on time.
He said: “Efforts to transfer pregnant women with complications commonly fail where transport is not available, where money cannot be found to pay for it, or where seasonal factors make the terrain impassable.”
President Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Najeem Usman Yasin said his members have been trained , and are at the grassroots to respond to women during emergencies.
Yasin called on the federal government to buy into the scheme in order to extend it to other parts of the country as well as ensure that no woman dies giving birth in the country.
Country Director, MacArthur Foundation, Mr. Ismaila Balogun said in most communities, women may walk an hour to access  antenatal appointment or emergency, stressing that with available transport, shorter time is used to achieve that.
He said in rural communities in the north, community-based transport solutions is required because government cannot afford to operate ambulance services on a large enough scale.