Maternal and newborn health policies in Lagos State face significant challenges in implementation and access to care, with health professionals and advocates identifying gaps in funding, service delivery, and policy provisions that could prevent women from receiving timely care.

At a Birth Justice Advocacy programme, organised in collaboration with Lead Foundation and International Center for Environmental Health and Development (ICEHD) on strengthening maternal and newborn health through advocacy, policy and practice, stakeholders discussed how the existence of healthcare policies and facilities do not necessarily guarantee access to services, particularly when financial, transport and environmental barriers remain.

‎ICEHD programme officer, Victor Adewoye, said the engagement intends to identify policy gaps, establish advocacy priorities and develop recommendations to guide subsequent action, adding that it is a starting point for discussions that would bring participants’ experiences together to inform decisions and strengthen partnerships.

‎Project Director, ICEHD, Dr Ndudi Bowei, said ICEHD reviewed two policy documents obtained from the Lagos State Primary Health Care Board and the state Ministry of Health and have identified gaps relating to maternal and neonatal health, disability and access to care.

‎The documents were identified during the presentation as the revised National Strategic Health Development Plan 2023–2025, Lagos State, and the National Birth Defects Surveillance Guideline, Lagos State.

‎Bowei said emergency obstetric care is framed largely around the availability of facilities, although women could still be unable to use the services because of costs, distance, transport, opening hours and informal fees.

‎She said advocacy recommendations have been developed to address the barriers identified in the review, and they intend to continue engaging the ministry and the primary healthcare board on their findings.

‎‎Head of the Department of Community Health at Lead City University’s Faculty of Basic Medical and Applied Sciences, Dr Francis Balogun, highlighted financing, staffing, transport, referral arrangements and accountability as factors affecting maternal healthcare delivery.

‎Also speaking, Climate Desk Officer at Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Muritala Sunkanmi, identified funding, manpower and coordination as major implementation challenges.
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He said health policies could fail to translate into action when programmes compete for funding, personnel are moved between areas and workers lack the capacity to implement policy provisions at service-delivery level.

‎He also explained how environmental conditions could disrupt maternal and newborn healthcare. Flooding he said, can prevent women from reaching health facilities and health workers from getting to work, while rain-related power interruptions can affect facilities without alternative electricity supplies. Extreme heat and air pollution were among the other environmental pressures he noted.

These concerns remain relevant to the policy review because, according to Dr Bowei, environmental health, climate-related risks and disability were not adequately addressed in the two documents examined.

‎Director of Nursing Service, district III, Lagos State Primary Health Care Board, Olasumbo Adeboboye, also raised concerns about the effects of rising heat on pregnant women and nursing mothers. She said healthcare systems need to prepare for these challenges rather than rely on discussions alone.

‎Meanwhile, under the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Project Manager for Safe Motherhood Project, Dr Kelvin Otumunye highlighted the importance of using reliable evidence to guide policy decisions.

He called for claims about the treatment of pregnant women in health facilities to be supported by survey findings and urged stakeholders to use Lagos-specific data when discussing the state.

‎The discussions pointed to several connected priorities, making maternal and newborn services financially and physically accessible, strengthening referral systems and emergency readiness, ensuring adequate staffing and funding and accounting for environmental risks that can interrupt care.