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Promoting Life Saving Tools for Safe Motherhood   
May 31, 2012 – An expectant mother in rural Nigeria goes into labor, and her family goes into action. They call their village's traditional birth attendant or TBA. The TBA has received little to no training, but has years of experience. Because they lost a baby during birth about a year ago, the family understands there is a good chance the mother, child or both may die. The birth is not easy, but the birth attendant delivers the child, who is now breathing on her own. However, the mother is not out of the woods. She is bleeding, and all of the TBA's remedies and attempts to stop the bleeding are failing. The family knows they have to do something, but the nearest hospital is four hours away, and they do not have money to cover the transportation cost. This is not an uncommon scenario across many parts of Nigeria, but it does not have to be the norm. Post-partum hemorrhage is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality worldwide, and in Nigeria it accounts for nearly 25 percent of maternal deaths. There is a little known solution that can greatly reduce those statistics.
Misoprostol is relatively inexpensive drug that can be easily administered by community health workers and is easy to store because it does not require refrigeration. The acceptance and proper usage of Misoprostol could be the key to saving thousands of women’s lives around the world. As part of Nigeria's National Safe Motherhood events last week, the Federal Ministry of Health in collaboration with CEDPA Nigeria held a one day seminar on Promoting Safe Motherhood through Community-based Interventions. Highlighting the benefits of Misoprostol, CEDPA focused the seminar on information sessions, implementation strategies and advocacy efforts to encourage local governments to adopt the use of Misoprostol into their care systems. “Our study has determined the acceptability, effectiveness and safety of Misoprostol for use in the community,” said Dr. Clara Ejembi (pictured above right), a community health physician. Dr. Ejembi presented the benefits of using Misoprostol and gave information on how communities could begin to distribute it for home births. One of the goals of CEDPA’s seminar was to bring together representatives from government departments, non-profits and community based health workers so they could discuss how to move forward with implementation strategies. At the end of the session, participants developed action plans on how to use Misoprostrol at a community level. Government officials reported on policy objectives; members from the CEDPA-Targeted States High Impact Project (TSHIP) staff offered guidance and knowledge about emergency transport systems and their integration with usage of Misoprostrol; and community health workers contributed their expertise on implementation in the field. The government officials who attended pledged their commitment to saving women's lives by the end of the seminar. “Sokoto state is ready to commit to itself to implementing the guidelines on the use of community Misoprostol and the resolutions from the Safe Motherhood seminar,” said Al-Mustapha Othman, the Director of Pharmaceutical services for Sokoto. Dr. Bosade Adeniran (pictured above left), the Safe Motherhood Coordinator for the Federal Ministry of Health, stated, “A guideline for the use of Misoprostol in community settings is soon to be printed and circulated to partners and stakeholders for implementation. The Federal Ministry of Health is committed to ensuring the implementation of these guidelines at all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria through their State Ministries of Health.” Read more about CEDPA’s work to save mothers’ lives in Nigeria. |
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