allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Maternal Health - More Than Just Reproductive Health (Page 1 of 2)

As the world and developing countries like Nigeria strive to attain the ideals of the Millennium Development Goals and MDG 5 in particular, there is an urgent need to reconsider our collective tendency to restrict the issue of maternal mortality to just the reproductive health of women.

The capacity of women to get reproductive health is key to their survival in the ante-natal and post natal period, but we need to look at various other health issues to which women are not only disposed but which affect their chances for healthy livelihood in the post partum period.

I have spoken in favour of the proper counselling of girls on their reproductive potentials, the need for skilled ante-natal attention, as well as efficient post delivery management of both mother and child.

But I am aware that so many other facts that we currently do not pay so much attention to, portend as much danger to women during and after pregnancy as any of the issues immediately attached to reproductive health.

When Nigeria marked the National Safe Motherhood Day recently, one of the issues I pointed out was that we must all work together, as NGOs, government agencies and funding bodies to help build a health system that makes women feel welcome and safe.

It is unfortunate that in the 21st Century, Nigeria cannot routinely quantify the health problems of its people. The compilation of verifiable information on mortality rates and other health indices has not been standardised in the country.

Forecasting health trends and health needs should involve the full complement of the health sector, especially as more people now mouth the importance of improved maternal and infant health, healthcare and health service delivery in sure determination for Nigeria to meet the 2015 deadline set for a 75 per cent reduction in maternal deaths.

As we move towards tackling these challenges, advocacy and research for policy formation and reform must be mindful of the fact that the issue of maternal health goes far beyond reproductive health alone.

The issue of maternal health actually begins with the conception of the girl child in the mother's womb. The health of the baby within the mother, the circumstances and events of her birth, her early infancy, childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, her experiences as regards nutrition, childcare, education, physical, mental, intellectual and emotional development; all have vital and interdependent roles to play in what we term maternal health.

We can all play a role in facilitating policy change if everyone becomes aware of this fact. It is important that we move away from public relations that merely creates goodwill for ourselves to public relations that really saves lives.

Gender-responsive budgeting technically refers to the tracking of government budgets so that adequate resources are devolved equitably, even if not equally, to issues relating to women and children as well as men. It also goes to help hold government responsible for their promises to commit to issues of gender equity and equality in the areas of provision of health and social service.

This is good. I believe that while holding the government accountable for their commitments to gender equality and the empowerment of women is important, we need to also get women in positions of political power to pay more attention to issues that affect women QUOTE.

Whether we realise it or not, those issues eventually affect us all. We cannot expect that the government, which is largely dominated by men, would honestly assess where policies need adjustments and where resources need to address gender inequalities.

Even if they found this to be so, the tendency is that they would not do what is necessary to rectify the situation if they are neither encouraged nor pressured to do so, particularly in our environment where we are still struggling with accepting the reality of the woman's importance to our collective growth as a nation.

Again on maternal health, we must adopt holistic measures. It is estimated for example that 450 million adult women in developing countries are stunted, a direct result of malnutrition in early life.

The discovery of high blood pressure, cancer, heart conditions and other non-communicable diseases in women are classic examples of areas where we need more action if we truly must reduce the rate of maternal death.

Knowledge has increased on the causes and effects of high blood pressure in women and the dangers this has during pregnancy. Although many pregnant women with high blood pressure have healthy babies without serious problems, high blood pressure can be dangerous for both the mother and the foetus.

Women with pre-existing, or chronic high blood pressure are more likely to have complications during pregnancy than those with normal BP.

web allafrica.com	Enter your search terms	Submit search form
OR subscribers use AllAfrica's premium search engine

Relevant Links

Relevant Links

Health

at a Glance

Today's Most Active Stories