From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
As a part of its deliberate effort to reduce the worrisome statistics of maternal and newborn deaths in Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation called HACEY with support from Access Corporation has trained health workers and birth attendants in Oyo, Osun, and Ogun States on safety measures while attending to pregnant women and nursing mothers
The World Health Organisation (WHO) data in Nigeria has a Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) of 512 deaths per 100,000 live births. This means a lot of reproductive women are still dying around childbirth even when some of these deaths are preventable.
It is against this backdrop that this non-governmental organisation came up with “Project Agbebi’ part of which is to train health workers and birth attendants in the three aforementioned States to reduce avoidable loss of women to death around childbirth.
Communication Officer, HACEY, Anne Bassey in a statement on Monday said, that the health training which took place at Primary Health Facilities in the three states featured sessions on safe delivery, and best practices among others.
According to her, “We trained the health worker as the first step towards reducing maternal and infant mortality in Nigeria. Safer births and fewer difficulties during labour are possible and see that health workers are better equipped to handle issues that may arise while attending to pregnant women, nursing mothers, and their newborns.
“The project would address some of the lags in maternal health care and enhance maternal health outcomes in Nigeria, HACEY and Access Corporation created project Agbebi, aimed at lessening the rate of maternal death by increasing the availability of basic birthing supplies, educating and empowering women to make their own health and economic choices, and encouraging communities to rally around expecting mothers”, she said.
Anne quoted the Head of Sustainability Access Corporation Omobolanle Victor-Laniyan saying “Encouraging pregnant women to seek antenatal care throughout their pregnancies can greatly reduce the risk of maternal and infant mortality.”
According to her, Victor-Laniyan also stressed the importance of strengthening the healthcare system by addressing issues including inadequate infrastructure, inadequately trained healthcare professionals, and inadequate necessary medical supplies and equipment.
Project Agbebi is a safe motherhood initiative that strives to provide appropriate and right services to pregnant women to reduce the number of maternal fatalities and problems.
