Bauchi records 61 maternal deaths

From: Ruth David, Bauchi

The National Technical Advisor of Mamaye Evidence 4 Action, Mr. Oko Igado, has disclosed that about 61 women died during child birth in various health facilities across Bauchi state from August to December 2015.

Mr. Igado said this while presenting 2015 Bauchi Maternal Death Record scorecard during a one day meeting on Bauchi State Accountability Mechanism for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (BaSAM) Action Plan 2016 Development held in Bauchi.

He lamented the alarming rate of maternal deaths in the state, saying that no woman should die while giving birth.

According to him, “28 maternal deaths were recorded from August to September 2015 while 33 women died from October to December 2015.

“The report indicated that 11 women died of anaemia in pregnancy, 14 died of eclampsia, while Anti-Parthum hemorrhage,(APH) killed 18 women and 9 women died as a result of Post Parthum hemorrhage( PPH),” he said.

He expressed worry over the inability of some of the health facilities to review maternal deaths, pointing out that only six health facilities out of 25 secondary health facilities in the state reviewed the cause of maternal deaths.

“It is very important to review the causes of maternal deaths, that is to investigate why the women are dying while giving birth so that we can know the next action to take in order to prevent further deaths.

“If no action is taken to prevent maternal deaths, more women will die and we must not allow this to continue because the lives of the women are worth saving,” Mr Igado added.

Speaking on the 16% of funds allocated to the health sector by the Bauchi state government in the 2016 budget, he commended the Bauchi State Accountability Mechanism, BASAM for their effort in convincing the government to make the huge allocation.

The National Technical Advisor called on BASAM to put in more efforts to ensure timely release of the allocation as well as effective implementation of health programmes.

The state Coordinator of Mamaye Evidence 4 Action, Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed, in his address said the objective of the meeting was to develop a work plan on the timely release of the 2016 budget to stakeholders in the health sector for implementation of programs.

Ahmed stressed the need to get government officials to be pro-active in implementation of programmes in order to revive the health sector of the state.