Gyang Bere, Jos
The National Coordinator of Rotary International on Maternal and Child Mortality Project in Nigeria, Prof. Emmanuel Adedolapo Lufadeju, says that it is embarrassing for Nigeria to be losing 68,000 women annually to pregnancy complications.
He complained that there has been no significant changes in the 2004 data of National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) and said Nigeria must embark on an aggressive awareness campaign in rural communities to drastically reduce the figure, which is the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world.
Prof. Lufadeju disclosed this on Wednesday in Jos during the Rotary International’s National Family Planning Campaigns Zonal Sensitization and Planning/Inaugural Meeting for North Central geo-political Zone.
“We are linking together all states reproductive Health Coordinators and Family Planning Coordinators in the North Central zone with other partners such as PFEN, Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON) to map out strategies that will reduce maternal mortality rate in Nigeria,” he said.
“The figure we have now is embarrassing and alarming; first we are losing 68,000 women every year in our country to pregnancy complications that constitute about 23 percent of the deaths in the world due to material death as a result of pregnancy health birth.”
He said the alarming figure is unacceptable to an average Nigeria because the cause is preventable and urged the Federal Government to take proactive measures to address the scourge.
“Sex infection and complications as a result abortion are things that are killing most Nigerian women and there are remedies for that.
“We are creating awareness for people to deliver in the hospital where doctors are skilled and equipped with knowledge to attend to any child birth emergencies, and not to deliver at home where there will be prolonged labour that makes the woman suffer excessive bleeding that will lead to loss of life,” he added.
Prof. Lufadeju stated that the awareness campaign, which will be effective from January 2020, will begin from local government areas around the country with poor education and those ravaged by poverty, and that participants will be selected from the grassroots.