Maternal Deaths Tumble In Ebonyi

Maternal mortality rate in Ebonyi has tumbled from 1,280 deaths to 219 per 100,000 women, Dr. Sunday Nwangele, the Commissioner for Health, has said.

Nwangele told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abakaliki that the feat was achieved as a result of the introduction of free maternal health services in the rural area.

“Our maternal mortality rate has dropped in Ebonyi State, before now it was 1,280 for every 100,000 live births especially in those rural areas.

“Right now, it is just 219 for every 100,000 live births, it is a drastic drop and it is encouraging,” he said.

Nwangele said the state was allotted three slots for the Midwifery Service Scheme (MSS), while some doctors in general hospitals had been trained on basic emergency urologic care to enable them handle referral cases from primary health centres.

According to him, the state also has a special health programme involving six hospitals which government has upgraded with N800 million.

“This project will help us push down the maternal mortality in the state,” Nwangele said, adding that a monitoring team had been put in place to ensure that expectant mothers attend ante-natal clinics.

The state has also distributed long lasting insecticide treated mosquito nets to households to tackle malaria.

The commissioner urged women in the state to ensure proper use of the nets to achieve the desired effect, saying, “we are sure we will eradicate malaria because we have eradicated guinea worm, onchocerciasis (river blindness) and poliomyelitis.”