Safe Motherhood

WHARC embarks on series of programmatic efforts on safe motherhood for improvement of maternal survival with resultant effect of reducing maternal morbidity and mortality in Nigeria. WHARC is implementing a project with funding support from the venture Strategic for Health and Development (VHSD) California, USA in three LGAs and four LGAs of Ondo state respectively for prevention and treatment of Post Partum Hemorrhage in women in rural areas of Edo and Ondo state through training and capacity building of local health care providers to properly dispense Misoprostol for the treatment and prevention of Post-partum Hemorrhage and to ensure its availability in line with guidelines provided by the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) and World Health Organization (WHO). The project is being implemented in Esan west, Esan central, and Igueben local government area of Edo State, and in Akure South, Owo, Ifedore and Akoko North-West Local Government areas of Ondo state respectively. Currently, the project is ongoing in the two states that are involved.

Also, as part of its efforts to promote safe motherhood in rural communities in Edo State, WHARC has been working with the School of Public Health at the University of California to determine the effectiveness of misoprostol administered by traditional birth attendants in reducing the incidence and mortality from primary post-partum hemorrhage. The project consists of an intervention site, where TBAs are taught to receive 800 microgram of misoprostol for the prevention and treatment of PPH, and a control site where TBAs manage PPH according to their usual traditional methods.

WHARC is also implementing a project titled policies and program in reducing maternal mortality in six states of Nigeria with funding support from the Macarthur foundation to strengthen advocacy activities aimed at promoting policies for maternal health and reducing maternal morbidity and mortality in the six states of Nigeria (Kano, Enugu, Borno, Lagos, Cross River and Plateau), by identifying the existing policies and programs relating to maternal health in the states, moreover to determine the impact of the policies on maternal health services delivery coverage and quality including cost, personnel, maternal health facilities and equipment in the states, determining the needs and perception of pregnant women and making necessary recommendations on the policies and programs aimed at reducing maternal mortality.

The project is designed to be implemented for a period of three years March 2009-Feb 2012 in three phases (research and data collection, report writing and advocacy visits) to improve the policies for maternal health with the general objective of reducing maternal morbidity and mortality.

WHARC identifies strategies for implementing the project and it includes; formation of project teams in each of the states, held project debriefing workshop, conducted in-depth interviews with stakeholders in each of the states, conducted focus group discussions and the project is still on, and at the moment, WHARC is implementing the report writing phase of the project.