A Professor of Reproductive Health in the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Rosemary Ogu, has stated that most of the deaths that take place when women give birth are avoidable when there is adequate provision of medicine, safe blood and obstetric services in the health institutions.
Ogu gave this statement after giving an Inaugural Lecture recently on the occasion of the 216th Inaugural Lecture of the University of Port Harcourt under the title of “Sweet Mother: From Perils to Power.”
An obstetrician and gynaecologist from the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), she further added that the reason why many women still die in the process of giving birth was that the hospitals were not having the commodities required to handle childbirth crises.
According to her, “Majority of the deaths happen inside the labor world because there is no blood, because there is no drug, because there is no commodities that you need to use for the woman who is giving birth. I have said that, please, we should ensure that all labour ward is stocked, every labour ward has a blood bank, every labour ward has a pharmacy.”
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The professor added that this year’s lecture theme indicated the shift from the perils of pregnancy and childbirth to safe delivery.
“Many women die during child birth and it is preventable. power is the success, the safety that happens when you go through childbirth and you are alive and well,” she said.
Professor Ogu made it clear that emergency obstetric services are still important in lowering maternal mortality rates and advised governments to ensure greater availability of high-quality maternal care services beyond the currently available interventions. Professor Ogu also advised communities to encourage pregnant women to go for antenatal services and asked men to be more involved in maternal health matters.
Moreover, she called for greater retraining of health workers in institutes of maternal and child health in universities in Nigeria.
The expert in reproductive health also advised residents of Rivers State to sign up for Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme (RIVCHPP) in order to take advantage of the free healthcare services.
According to the Executive Secretary of RIVCHPP, Dr. Vetty Agala, the program offers free medical services and health insurance education at the time of inaugural lectures.
Dr. Agala explained that the program is meant to solve financial problems that prevent people from accessing health services, and according to her, lack of sufficient healthcare financing is one of the causes of maternal mortality.
“If you listen to the inaugural lecture, you would agree that one of the perils is poverty, and delay in assessing care. …funding, and financing are critical to maternal health,” he said.
