By Rauf Oyewole
A Social Behaviour Change expert, George Eki has linked the high rate of maternal mortality in Bauchi State to some socio-cultural norms and harmful practices to the menace.
Eki, while delivering a paper on curbing maternal mortality in Bauchi State, an event jointly organised by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Bauchi and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that stakeholders must unite against the attitude that sends innocent infants to grave.
“In the course of our advocacy outing, we have seen where a husband will insist that his wife should be responsible for taking children to the hospital, even when the wives are busy doing other things. We have also seen some men who still believe that their wives should not attend antenatal care and they see delivery at healthcare centres as foreign.
According to the National Demographic Health Survey data, in Bauchi State, 1,732 infants out of 100,000 newborn die before 28 days. The development the experts said is above the national data of 576.
Some of the contributing factors are said to be; poor access to emergency obstetric care, low contraceptive use and teenage pregnancy in the state.
Also, UNICEF data showed that Bauchi State is leading other states in the North-East. On neonatal mortality, Bauchi records 48 deaths per 1,000 live births against the 12 maximum mortality.
Eki George, who said beliefs, traditions, and norms strongly affect health practices, argued that unless people change their approach, no meaningful improvement could be made.
On infant feeding, the Social and Behaviour Change expert said placing the baby on breastmilk within their one hour of life prevents them from many child illnesses, acknowledging that delayed breastfeeding has the potential of exposing the child to danger.
“In some communities, giving babies the initial cholesterol from the mother's breast is seen as a taboo. This is a super food, first immunisation but sadly in some cultures, it should extracted out. We really need to educate out people,” he said.
He added that reversing gender norms that limit women's mobility or access to information would help in encouraging positive health-seeking behavior among communities
0 Comments