60000 women saved in Gombe from pregnancy-related deaths ? SFH

By VICTORIA OJEME
ABUJA?The Society for Family Health, SFH, said yesterday that no fewer than 60,000 women and their children who would have lost their lives in pregnancy-related illness, have been saved in Gombe State.

Managing Director of SFH, Mr. Bright Ekweremadu, who disclosed this in Abuja, said the feat was attributable to a programme initiated by the group and its partners.

The programme, known as ?Inganta Rayuwar Iyali?, which started in November 2009 and ended on March 8, 2012, is aimed at reducing common causes of ill health and deaths among pregnant women and the new born through the use of different approaches.

Speaking during a briefing to mark end of the project yesterday, Ekweremadu said the project became necessary when the National Demographic Health survey 2008 revealed that only 17% of pregnant mothers delivered in? health facility in Gombe State.

His words:? ?This implies that majority of the pregnant women deliver at home without the assistance of a skilled health care attendant. This practice has resulted in complications and needless deaths of mothers and new born.?

According to him, the Society for Family Health, through Population Services International (based in? Washington DC) and Transaid (based in London) were contracted to manage the two year learning grant, supported with funds from Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

Senior Programme Officer, Child Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr Saul Morris, said $6.7 million was expended during the two year project in Gombe State, where 11 local government areas were targeted.

The project worked with 248 women who were community volunteers and trained by the Federation of Muslim Women?s Association of Nigeria, FOMWAN, to counsel women on how to take care of themselves and their babes before and after pregnancies.

The SFH boss also added that a state government gave them a land to built a call centre wherein the volunteers could make calls freely and provide information to the public on health issues.

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Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/03/60000-women-saved-in-gombe-from-pregnancy-related-deaths-sfh/

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