‘UNFPA says Nigeria records 111 maternal deaths daily owing to socio-economic factors’

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has disclosed that about 111 women and girls die on daily basis in Nigeria from maternal and perinatal cases, which could be attributed to various socio-economic factors, including social injustice, poverty and lack of knowledge and understanding among the pregnant women.

Giving the statistics in Abeokuta during UNFPA team’s meeting with Heads of Secondary and Tertiary Health Facilities in Ogun State on Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance Audits (MPDSA), Damilola Obinna, the State Programme Officer for United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said frantic efforts should be devised to curtail the rate at which women die.

Obinna said social injustices such as early marriage, religion, norms and beliefs as well as inadequate Health Care Centres within the reach of pregnant women have often led to the deaths of women and girls being recorded on daily basis, just as she declared that strong awareness should be created to tackle the situation.

She however, submitted that such deaths could have been averted if family members and communities were involved in the system and Health centres should be well equipped and improved upon in addition to increasing the health personnel and making Health Centres within the reach of the pregnant women.

Responding, Modupe Olurin, Permanent Secretary, Ogun State Hospitals Management Board, urged Heads of Health Facilities in the state to imbibe the culture of logging-in maternal and perinatal cases at their centres in order to work towards reducing its prevalence in the state and the country, starting the control measures from the grassroots and Local Council Areas.

The Permanent Secretary, who was represented at the meeting by Olatunde Aigoro, Director, Hospital Services, was of the opinion that proper recording and reviewing of Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance Audit (MPDSA) at every health centre would help prevent the prevalence of maternal deaths in order to effectively control the identified health challenges.

RAZAQ AYINLA