Saraki harps on training to stem tide of maternal mortality

Midwives are capable of providing 87 per cent maternal care for mothers and newborns in Nigeria, if their capacity is increased to improve the health service delivery within the country.
 
The Founder-President of Wellbeing Foundation Africa, Mrs Toyin Ojora Saraki, disclosed this yesterday, at a two-day co-creation workshop held in Abuja and Lagos, sponsored by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in collaboration with the Johnson and Johnson Foundation, Medicaid Cancer Foundation, the Real Visionaries Initiative, and supported by the Wellbeing Foundation Africa.
 
She said: “Improving the capacity of healthcare workers, especially nurses and midwives, to provide respectful care on oncology and mental health, is key to improving the health service delivery within the country. Nursing and midwifery are likely to make the most significant contribution to achieving SDG 3 in the areas of mental health, oncology, and maternal-newborn health.

“The Wellbeing Foundation Africa has worked with the federal and regional governments to improve the training, working conditions and remuneration of midwives, as well as deploying midwives to underserved, rural areas of the country.

Through our MamaCare360 Antenatal and Postnatal Education programme, we have continued to advocate for increased midwifery care in reducing maternal mortality during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum periods.”
 
According to data, there are currently less than 90 clinical oncologists who provide treatment for over 100,000 cancer patients across the cancer centres in Nigeria, with a disproportionate ratio of one cancer doctor to 1,100 cancer patients.
   
The Global Programmes Director for Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Dr. Charles Ameh, commented: “At the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, we believe that our partners in the global south understand the challenges within the health systems and we are more than happy to facilitate the discussions to bring solutions to these challenges.

“We believe that the health workers are the centre of the health systems spectrum and therefore require proper training, deployment and retention in the three focal areas of this workshop – oncology nursing, mental health nursing and midwifery.”
 
The Director of Global Community Impact Africa of Johnson and Johnson Global Health, Laura Nel, commented: “The Johnson and Johnson Global Health is committed to working with local partners to create systems that support community-based health structures, by equipping nurses and midwives to promote a community change in health-seeking behaviour.

“We are constantly looking to understand and support the needs of health workers to help them perform at their best to meet the demands of an ever-changing world…”