Ruby Rabiu
13 February 2008
The Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria yesterday attributed the increase in maternal and neonatal mortality in the country to quack midwifes undertaking 90 percent of deliveries.
SOGON said the quacks include traditional priests, herbalists, prophets and prophetess of churches and traditional birth attendants.
Speaking at the launch of SOGON Partnership Plan and Structure (SPPS) for maternal and neonatal mortality reduc-tion in Nigeria, the National President of SOGON, Dr John Okaro, stated that past efforts by government have failed because most women have lost confidence in hospitals because of the high cost of accessing healthcare.
Okaro said that most hospi-tals and public health facilities do not offer 24 hours quality comprehensive obstetric services, adding that poor funding and outdated equipments have led to loss of lives during child-births.
"Against this background, a shift from the old ways of doing things has become necessary. If we continue along the same path, the war against maternal deaths may never be won.
"Obstetricians and midwives need to go into the field to be involved at the local level of advocacy, capacity building for health workers, mobilisation of communities and skilled service delivery.
"Functional 24-hours quality free obstetric services can begin to draw our women away from quacks, herbalists and traditional birth attendants.
"Increased utilization of quality obstetric services at the grassroot level has the best chance of allowing obstetric complications that can lead to maternal deaths to be detected early and dealt with appropriately," he said.
Earlier the president of the Market Women Association of Nigeria, Mrs Felicia Sani, had suggested that deliveries for rural women should be made free of charge in hospitals to help government achieve the target of reducing maternal mortality.
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