How women can be encouraged to give birth in hospitals

One of the factors contributing to maternal mortality in the north is the reluctance of some women to give birth in hospitals due to their cultural and religious beliefs. In addition some husbands also find it difficult to permit their wives to go out of their homes to access care in hospitals for fear of […]

One of the factors contributing to maternal mortality in the north is the reluctance of some women to give birth in hospitals due to their cultural and religious beliefs. In addition some husbands also find it difficult to permit their wives to go out of their homes to access care in hospitals for fear of being examined by a man.
National programme manager, Women for Health, a programme managed  by Health Partners International, (HPI) Dr Fatima Adamu, said one of the ways of stopping Nigerian women from dying while giving birth is to provide midwives in hospitals and also make treatment affordable for the women.
She said many hospitals in the north do not have midwives to take delivery adding that, “if a woman goes to a hospital where there is no woman to attend to her or take her delivery she wouldn’t go there.”
She said there is need for government to make provisions in hospitals to make women deliver with dignity.
“When a woman is in labour, what she needs is a fellow woman who understands her condition and who will treat her with respect, and that is what has been lacking,” she advised.