A non-governmental organization, Maternal and Reproductive Health Research Collective (MRHRC), has launched a campaign to reverse the negative profile of Nigeria as the country with the largest number of women who die during childbirth, also known as maternal mortality.
Nigeria currently ranks the highest in maternal deaths. The NGO revealed at a press conference on Thursday in Lagos that it hopes to reverse the trend with its Mamabase project where a dedicated corps of community health workers would be deployed to provide unwavering support to pregnant women within their communities, ensuring they receive essential antenatal care and give birth under the watchful eye of skilled healthcare providers.
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Bosede Afolabi, who is also the founder of MRHRC, said the Mamabase project would support 5,000 women with free medical support to achieve safe delivery.
Prof Afolabi, who addressed the gathering via Zoom, added: “We realized that the actual way of reaching pregnant women is in the community. This is how we can prevent a lot of the problems of maternal deaths and complications. We are starting with Lagos State, to register 5,000 women and ensure they deliver safely. After that, we will spread to other parts of the country,” she said.
Research Lead at MRHRC, Dr Omobolanle Balogun, said not only is Nigeria the record holder in the highest number of maternal deaths, but it is leading by a wide margin.
She said the causes of maternal deaths, which include bleeding, obstructed labour, infections, high blood pressure and unsafe abortions can be prevented with access to health facilities and access to quality care.
She said: “WHO recommends eight antenatal visits as the minimum. Imagine a woman trekking in rural communities without health facilities, trekking that long to access a health facility. What about the quality of the care? Note that we also don’t have enough skilled birth attendants.”
A board member of MRHRC and chief executive officer of Redwire, Temitayo Etomi, asked Nigerians of goodwill to partner with them on the journey of turning the dire situation around.
She thanked their partners, including Sterling Bank, Nigerian Breweries, IFitness, and individuals including Nollywood stars Richard Mofe Damijo, Adesua Etomi Wellington, Ireti Doyle for their contributions towards ending maternal mortality in Nigeria.
The press conference was also attended by a Professor of Public Health, Abidoye Gbadegesin, a representative of Lagos State Government, Sterling Bank and iFitness.