Primary healthcare services for internally displaced persons and returnees – and particularly women − in camps and host communities are in desperate need of a revamp.
Dr Aliyu Shettima, the executive director of the Borno State primary healthcare development agency, told journalists at a media briefing to mark National Safe Motherhood Day at the weekend that Nigeria was one of the most high-risk places in the world to give birth, accounting for 15% of total maternal deaths worldwide.
He said more than 1.7-million internally displace persons were taking refuge in Maiduguri, Dikwa, Gwoza, Pulka and Monguno camps, with about 14,000 returnees.
Under the theme “Quality and Dignity for Women”, he promised to strengthen the primary healthcare system to improve the lives of those affected and to deliver better services to those in need.
The event was organised by the agency in collaboration with World Health Organisation (WHO).
Shettima said more advanced hospital equipment and ambulances had been procured and deployed to camps and newly resettled communities.
“The revamp of the healthcare delivery system is to ensure that pregnant women access services to reduce maternal death and complications,” he said.
Shettima quoted the WHO, saying that more than 800 deaths per 100,000 live births were recorded in Nigeria every year, because of improper care during pregnancy. The leading causes of child deaths were sepsis, haemorrhage and severe hypertension.
Insecurity and poverty, lack of adequate information, poor quality services and cultural beliefs and practices contributed to the high rate of maternal mortality.
Shettima said many pregnant women attended antenatal services in primary healthcare centres but they did not return for the delivery.
In an effort to bridge healthcare delivery gaps, he said, the agency had started training community health influencers and promoters (CHIPs) at the local government level to integrate their services.
He said safe motherhood and new-born health were especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shettima advised women to be aware of maternity care in pregnancy, during and after child birth, adding that it was important that all births were attended by skilled health professionals to provide treatment in time.
“This will make the difference between life and death for the mother as well as for the baby. To avoid deaths, it is important to prevent unwanted pregnancies by means of contraception and other legal ways. Safe motherhood has four pillars which include antenatal, clean delivery, essential obstruct care and family planning.”
In 2019, the infant mortality rate in Nigeria was at about 74.2 deaths per 1,000 live births. The National Demographic Health Survey of 2018 put the maternal mortality ratio at 512 deaths per 100,000 live births.
The National Assembly expressed concern that Nigeria’s mortality indices remained extremely high despite huge resources sunk into the health sector over the years by the government at all levels.
The National Assembly called for health security to be prioritised.
Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, told reporters at a media briefing last week that the issue had been put on the front burner of discourse at the 4th Annual Legislative Summit on Health to be held in Abuja next week.
