Isn’t it amazing how blind we could be to issues around us
till someday, somehow, the scales fall of your eyes and you see clearly what
has been so obvious? Growing up,
maternal mortality to me meant the statistics churned out by the World Health
Organization and similar bodies; I never agreed with the figures, not even when
my god-mother died in related circumstances. I thought they were overestimates. I was
probably busy growing up, studying and doing many other things except noticing
the maternal health indicators around me.
Then I got married and extended family obligations demanded
my new family’s stay in a semi-rural area in South-Eastern Nigeria. My first
shock came with a case of a teenager whose placenta was retained hours after
the delivery of her baby which was attended to by a local birth attendant who
claimed she told the poor girl’s mother to take the girl to a nearby hospital
where there would be capable hands to handle the case; they did so but not
before inviting their religious leader who spent hours ‘commanding’ the
retained placenta out. Long story cut short, the girl died leaving behind a
helpless little baby.
Then I started to notice. I noticed the lady who went for
her scheduled antenatal checks and was advised to stay back for monitoring as
her blood pressure was abnormally high; she accepted but insisted she must cook
for her family and return later. That was the last meal she made for her family.
I noticed the case of
the lady whose religious leader ‘prophesied’ that she will have a normal
delivery; and convinced her to reject all pleas by her doctor to have a
Cesarean Section when she had complications that demanded so.
I noticed the case of
the lady who died due to complications that arose from a C-Section that went
wrong; doctors in all government hospitals were on strike so she went to one of
the one-doctor-and-no-licensed- nurse hospitals found at almost every corner of
the country.
I also noticed that a
week hardly goes by before I learn of another case of maternal mortality on
social media. Then I started arguing that the statistics did not give the true
picture; that things are much worse than depicted.
More painful is the knowledge that almost all the deaths
were preventable. They were largely errors in judgment from either the patient,
her relations, her health practitioner, religious leaders, and even failures of
the health institutions; errors which I blame the Nigerian health system for,
for failing to introduce innovative
measures to minimize and if possible eliminate preventable maternal deaths and
in fact all preventable deaths. There should also be punitive measure meted on
persons implicated in preventable cases of maternal deaths; from birth
attendants to religious leaders and even some patient relations.
Every case of maternal death translates into huge human and
economic losses. It leaves behind a trail of heartbreak and despondency.
While we expect the government to make
significant and sustainable changes to the health system, mothers and everyone
concerned should be well-informed on what their choices and chances are to
enable them make informed decisions. Every one should know what their roles are in the bid to reduce the unacceptable maternal mortality rate in Nigeria.
I look forward to a time when preventable maternal deaths in
Nigeria will be a thing of the past.
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