By most accounts, the high rate of maternal mortality in Bauchi State is indeed a source of serious concern to all and sundry.
This is because the maternal mortality rate in the state is put at 1,549 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines maternal death as the “death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and size of the pregnancy, from any cause related to, or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes.’’
Dr Usman Al-Rasheed, Senior Policy Adviser of Targeted States High Impact Project (TSHIP), a Bauchi-based non-governmental organisation, has said that available statistics showed that 300 women died of pregnancy-related complications in the state every year.
Al-Rasheed, who categorised the causes of maternal deaths, also stressed that maternal mortality ratio in Bauchi State was around 1,549 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.
He identified the causes of the deaths as haemorrhage (23 per cent); infection (17 per cent); eclampsia (11 per cent); unsafe abortion (11 per cent); obstructed labour (11 per cent); malaria (11 per cent); anaemia (11 per cent) and other factors (5 per cent).
“Some of the social causes that contribute to maternal deaths are cultural practices that restrict women from seeking medical attention, malnutrition and child delivery without the supervision of skilled health personnel,’’ he said.
Al-Rasheed said that the components of safe motherhood, which were vital for safe delivery by pregnant women, included antenatal care, clean and safe hospital as well as postpartum care.
“A pregnant woman is expected to attend antenatal clinics at least four times, during which she would be educated on her required nutrition and how to handle some medical conditions such as malaria, hookworm and anemia,” he said.
Hajiya Fatima Mohammed, a member of the TSHIP Advocacy Group on Reproductive Health, who spoke during advocacy visits to rural communities in the state, said that neglect of postpartum care was the common killer of new mothers in the state.
“Pregnant women die mostly of Postpartum Hemorrhage (PPH), which is loss of blood in excess of 500 milliliter or any amount sufficient enough to cause cardiovascular collapse,” she added.
Mohammed, who is also the North East Zonal Vice-President of Federation of Muslim Women Association in Nigeria (FOMWAN), stressed that apart from maternal deaths, records of neonatal deaths in the state were also frightening.
According to her, neonatal mortality is the death of an infant within the first 28 days of life.
Citing the National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) of 2008, Mohammed said that it was estimated that 53 neonatal deaths per 1,000 births were recorded in the state.
“As per the records of NDHS, Bauchi State had the highest number of neonatal deaths in North East zone as at that time,” she added.
All the same, Alhaji Iliyasu Aliyu, the District Head of Akuyam, said that a lot of women were reluctant to patronise health facilities because of the involvement of male health workers in handling child delivery cases.
“Some of the pregnant women do not go to the health centres for child delivery because there are no female midwives or nurses there to attend to them.
“Government should intervene by posting female health workers to the health centres to encourage pregnant women deliver their babies there,” he added.
However, the Bauchi State Government has adopted some measures to check the incidence of maternal mortality in the state.
Dr Nisser Umar, the Executive Chairman, Bauchi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, said that the government had concluded plans to purchase 4,000,000 doses of Misoprostol tablets and Chlorhexidine tubes for distribution to primary health centres.
“Misoprostol is a tablet used after childbirth to stop bleeding, while Chlorhexidine is a form of tube applied on the umbilical cord of a newborn after birth to prevent infection. They have all been tested and proven to be effective,” he said.
He, however, stressed that postpartum haemorrhage was a major cause of maternal mortality, while infant deaths were mostly caused by infections via the babies’ umbilical cords.
On complaints about the dearth of female health personnel to handle child delivery cases, Umar said that efforts were underway to address the issue on a long-term basis.
In the meantime, he said that district heads had been directed to submit names of qualified female school leaders in their domains for training as health workers.
Besides, Umar pledged that primary health care facilities in the state would be well-managed by the agency, adding that the facilities would also be provided with adequate female health personnel.
Moreover, Alhaji Sambo Jumberi, the Permanent Secretary in charge of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) projects in the state, said that the problem of inadequate health facilities and personnel was being addressed.
He said that this year, the MDGs Office had upgraded 10 dispensaries in some rural areas to 10-bed capacity maternity clinics so as to ensure that more expectant mothers across the state were able to have access to quality health care delivery.
As an interim measure, Jumberi said that the office would recruit qualified workers to man the facilities before handing them over to the local government councils.
He also said that child delivery materials had been procured for the 10 maternity clinics, adding that the strategy was to facilitate the early detection of pregnancy-related complications in expectant mothers.
Although the challenges of maternal care in Bauchi State appear quite enormous, stakeholders urge the state government to sustain its current efforts to tackle the menace of maternal mortality decisively.
(NAN Features)