Deaths, as mothers ditch antenatal care
Antenatal care (ANC) coverage in the African region, including Nigeria, remains poor; that is occasioned by low awareness, out-of-pocket payment for care, belief in home birth, as well the traditional delivery system, among others. Experts say embracing ANC will reduce deaths of mothers and babies. APPOLONI A ADEYEMI reports
A pregnant Kenyan woman was hit by sad news after losing five babies in one day following the birth of her quintuplets.
The 30-year-old woman Jacintah Akinyi who gave birth to rare naturally-conceived quintuplets in Kenya in November last year, was reported to have lost all the five babies, according to a hospital in the south-west of the country. Akinyi who is already the mother of four children, and lost a fifth in an earlier pregnancy, did not know she was carrying five babies in that pregnancy.
She however, went into labour and gave birth to two babies at home, who both died, before being transferred to the Kisii Teaching and Referral hospital in Kenya.
According to reports, Nurse Manager Florence Ogero said a third baby died that night, due to being underweight and suffering a condition caused by low levels of blood platelets. “The other one had severe pneumonia and from all those birth-related complications, these babies have succumbed,” she stated. “It was a premature delivery and the mother did not attend antenatal clinic.
The multiple deliveries were diagnosed upon delivery so there was no anticipation,” she added. The death of all five of the Akinyi’s newborn, though sad underscored the danger inherent in pregnant mothers ditching antenatal care (ANC).
In spite of the associated danger, the experience of Akinyi is very common in Nigeria where many pregnant women do not bother to attend ANC. The terrible experience of two Nigerian women identified as Anna and Fati Mohammed similarly highlight the problem of pregnant women not accessing ANC.
Relating her ordeal, Anna said she had gone through labour for two days at the Ikotun home of a traditional birth attendant (TBA) in Lagos State and going by the delayed delivery; she was rushed on emergency to the Alimosho General Hospital, Igando where it was found that the baby had died in her womb.
She told the New Telegraph that throughout the duration of the pregnancy, she never visited any antenatal clinic. She was later delivered of the dead baby through caesarean surgery. The case of Fati Mohammed was also very pathetic.
Throughout the nine months that she was impregnated by an Okada rider in Alaba area of Lagos, Fati did not seek care in any health facility; neither did she register for ANC.
She said: “I did not attend any antenatal clinic throughout the nine months of the pregnancy, but when labour started, it was on for two days.” However, she was rushed on emergency to the Alimosho General Hospital in Igando after two day of labour.
By the time, she underwent a surgical operation for the delivery, the baby had already died. The pregnancy of Anna and Fati Mohammed are examples of how some mothers in Nigeria do not seek care while pregnant, often leading to maternal and/or child mortality.
The National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) 2013 estimated that maternal mortality ratio in Nigeria is 576 deaths per 100,000 live births (lb). Every single day, Nigeria loses about 2,300 under-five year olds and 145 women of child-bearing age.
This makes the country the second largest contributor to the under–five and maternal mortality rate in the world. Underneath the statistics lies the pain of human tragedy, for thousands of families who have lost their children.
Even more devastating is the knowledge that, according to recent research, essential interventions reaching women and babies on time would have averted most of these deaths. One of such interventions is ANC.
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