Advocates for maternal health have underscored the importance of collaborative efforts to drive sustainable progress in maternal and child health nationwide.
At a webinar co-hosted by Pathfinder International and the Center for Communication and Social Impact, aimed at raising awareness about critical maternal health issues, stakeholders converged to share their insights.
During the virtual event, Dr. Amina Dorayi, Country Director of Pathfinder International, highlighted the crucial role of advocacy in ensuring that stakeholders are held accountable for their pledges to enhance maternal health outcomes, thereby fostering a collective commitment to meaningful progress.
“We all know that maternal health is a cornerstone for public health and also improves outcomes to ensure that everyone has access to quality care to enable families and communities to live the lives they deserve,” Dorayi said.
Dr. Dorayi expressed concern over Nigeria’s persistently high maternal mortality rate, despite numerous initiatives, and noted that the webinar was a strategic step towards bolstering collaborations across multiple states to advocate for women’s health and wellbeing.
“We believe that collaboration among government agencies and healthcare providers is very crucial to the work that we do, and the community is also critical to achieving sustainable progress on maternal health.” She highlighted.
Mrs. Babafunke Fagbemi, Executive Director of the Center for Communication and Social Impact (CCSI), highlighted the center’s efforts to support advocacy efforts through strategic communication, media outreach, and inspiring change.
She explained that the project enables CCSI to utilize the SMART methodology to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives, thereby shaping the advocacy agenda and driving meaningful results.
“We are also delighted that the project encourages existing policies that support women’s health and, by the way, showcases these efforts in the spotlight, which poses an opportunity to improve maternal health in Nigeria,” she said.
Dr. Folashade Oludara, Head of Family Health and Nutrition Directorate at the Lagos State Ministry of Health, presented various policy documents aimed at improving maternal health in Lagos State.
These initiatives include six months of maternity leave for exclusive breastfeeding and free antenatal and postnatal care.
However, she identified several challenges, such as an overwhelming population, inadequate facilities, staff apathy, financial constraints, medical litigation, and poor documentation.
To address these gaps, Dr. Oludara suggested strategies like partner support, women’s enrollment in health schemes, volunteer engagement, skill updates for health workers, and domestication of motherhood guidelines.
From Kano State’s perspective, Dr. Imam Bello, Director of Public Health and Disease Control, highlighted the absence of dedicated funding for maternal health as a significant contributor to the high maternal mortality rate.
He also emphasized the government’s reluctance to disclose budget data as a major obstacle.
To promote accountability, Dr. Bello recommended community-based monitoring and planning, budget tracking and analysis, and maternal death audits as essential mechanisms to drive positive change.
“Strategic advocacy is also a crucial means of improving maternal health. We also need increased resource allocation for maternal health programs and to ensure funds are utilized to improve outcomes,” Bello noted.
Salisu Yusuf, Public Relations Officer of the Kano State-Led Accountability Mechanism, presented his paper, emphasizing the need for policy reforms to bolster maternal health initiatives.
He argued that such reforms would effectively tackle the pressing issues of inadequate infrastructure and equipment, insufficient trained healthcare personnel, and socioeconomic challenges like poverty, education, and cultural barriers.
Additionally, Yusuf stressed the importance of community engagement in fostering trust and collaboration with communities to enhance maternal health outcomes.
He also highlighted the necessity of ensuring sustainable funding to provide long-term financial support for these programs, thereby guaranteeing their continuity and success.
