Don blames maternal deaths on illiteracy

The Chairman, Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Prof. Oluwarotimi Akinola, has blamed high rate of illiteracy among women in the North for the high rates of maternal deaths recorded in the region.

 Akinola, who delivered the guest lecture, titled “Race to 2015, How far?”, at the Ordinary General Meeting and Scientific Conference organised by Medical Guild in Lagos on Wednesday, said due to lack of education, many women did not have the needed information that could save their lives during pregnancy and after delivery.

He said a study conducted in Zaria among 22,000 women showed that the women that registered for ante-natal or had their babies in the hospital were those that had either secondary or tertiary education.

He said, “The role of education in reducing the number of pregnant women dying before or after delivery is very important. Over 70 per cent of the women in the North cannot read and they are not empowered to know that it is a midwife that should take their delivery and not a traditional birth attendant.

“A woman that is educated would enrol for ante natal and also insist that she wants to go to the hospital to deliver her baby but a woman that is not empowered or literate will not recognise quacks or danger signs in pregnancy.”

Akinola also noted that another factor responsible for maternal deaths in the country was delay in getting pregnant women during labour to hospitals due to poor transportation networks.

The consultant gynaecologist noted that most cases of maternal deaths  in Nigeria occurred in the  first 24 hours before and after delivery and to avert this, Akinola called on government to provide facilities for emergency obstetric care.

“Most women die either during labour or within 24 hours of delivery. Anything can go wrong after a woman gives birth. It is left to government to ensure that when things go wrong and they come to the hospital, they do not meet a queue, or that we have the consultant or doctor to attend to them.”

He noted that lack of accurate data on the number of women dying during delivery was the bane of maternal care in Nigeria.

“The introduction of Maternal Death Review, a strategy to help in reducing maternal deaths, is necessary. It is a strategy to identify what causes deaths and how it can be avoided,” he said.

 The Chairman, Medical Guild, Lagos State, Dr. Olumuyiwa Odusote, called on civil organisations and non-governmental organisations to increase advocacy and pressure on government to put in facilities to reduce maternal and child deaths in the country.

He said, “It is important that everyone, including civil organisations get involved in the fight, in reducing maternal mortality. They are the ones that can mount pressure on government to salvage this embarrassing situation.

“There must also be awareness for all women on the danger signs in pregnancy so that once they see the signs they should visit the healthcare provider immediately. If government can dedicate itself and put in the right amount of funds in the right places, we can achieve the set goal of reducing maternal mortality to 75 per cent in 2015,” he said.

He noted that challenges of distance to health care centres, due to bad roads and lack of good transport system, could only be addressed by the Federal Government, hence the  need for them to provide adequate resources to reduce maternal deaths by half in 2015.

Odusote said that there was need to get health care as close as possible to the people for quick and easy accessibility to such facilities.