NGO seeks media support to increase antenatal care awareness in Gombe
An NGO, Saif Advocacy Foundation has called for support from media stakeholders towards intensifying awareness aimed at increasing women’s access to antenatal care services (ANC) in all health facilities across Gombe State.
Alhassan Yahya, the Executive Director of the NGO, made the call during a media engagement in Gombe on Wednesday.
Yahya said that due to better access to family planning services and other health services, the maternal mortality rate in Gombe State, which used to be very high, had significantly improved.
He said that though women in the state had started accessing antenatal care and child spacing services, there were more gaps to be bridged in view of the connection between such services and maternal mortality rate.
He said that a pregnant woman was expected to visit health facilities at least eight times before delivery, but that was not the case in the state.
“ANC is in the red in Gombe State, meaning more efforts are needed to improve antenatal care services towards reducing maternal mortality.
“Women in Gombe State are not accessing the ANC as expected; this is a concern to us.
“ANC will promote and protect the health of women and their unborn babies during pregnancy, leading to a healthy mother and a healthy baby.
“With ANC, there will be improved health care for women and their babies, and their chances of dying at delivery will be drastically reduced.
“We are here to advocate for increased access to health care services including child spacing amongst others, and we need more efforts in achieving this,” he said.
Yahya said that though progress was being recorded through advocacies by SAIF and other partners but emphasised that there were need to intensify awareness towards encouraging pregnant women to embrace early ANC.
Yahya urged the media and all stakeholders to intensify efforts towards encouraging women as well as their husbands to embrace antenatal care services.
He called on the state government to commit more resources towards increasing awareness to boost access to antenatal services, adding that such would assist in changing the negative indices in that regard.
For her part, Farida Dunama, the Program Officer of SAIF Advocacy Foundation, highlighted efforts within the past three months at increasing awareness to critical stakeholders in the state.
Dunama said that through a three-month programme funded by Clinton Health Access Initiative, a lot of stakeholders’ engagement had been carried out and that communities reached were now embracing the initiative.
She stated that community engagement on Maternal New-born Health and Sexual Reproductive Health remained an area that needed more awareness drive towards getting all stakeholders on board.
She urged the media stakeholders to carry out more awareness in that regard, adding that increased awareness8 would translate to reduced maternal mortality in the state.
For Saudatu Isa, a consultant with Clinton Health Access Initiative, said improving access to health care services was a collective responsibility of all stakeholders.
Isa called for a collective approach to ensure that all women irrespective of their background and location had access to health care services.
