By Angela Atabo
Abuja – Advocacy Nigeria, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO), on Friday called on the Federal Government to introduce sex education in schools to address maternal mortality, especially at the grassroots.
Dr Rukaiyatu Ahmed, the rapporteur of the group, made the call in Abuja while presenting report on Promoting Accountability in the Implementation of Maternal Health Services in Adamawa, Gombe and Zamfara states.
According to Ahmed, sex education is necessary in schools because they are central for deliberating the values the nation wishes to transmit to its young one.
She said that the government could customise sex education to suit Nigeria’s culture in order to address the challenges of maternal mortality from an early stage.
According to her, one of the major challenges that lead to increased cases of mortality was ignorance from illiteracy.
“ There is need for the nation to start from the beginning to educate children on how to plan the family and as they grow, they will gradually learn to stop maternal mortality.
“This is because a well-designed, culturally sensitive sex education programmes don’t lead to moral decay. They lead to informed, skilled teenagers prepared to navigate the complex of marriage later on in life.
“From what I have experienced in the North, illiteracy is the major setback to curbing maternal mortality and because many remote communities in villages are not involved,’’ she said.
Ahmed said that in most areas due to ignorance most women don’t attend ante natal mostly because their husbands did not support them or cultural barriers.
She said that a woman under labour could die because her husband was not around to give her the permission to go to the hospital.
She, however, called for more and sustained enlightenment and awareness campaigns by CSOs and the engagement of village heads for future project planning to curb mortality at the grassroots.
She also called for upgrading of health facilities by the federal, state and local governments for better health care delivery.
Dr Kole Shettima, Director, Africa Office, MacArthur Foundation, said that Nigeria still lagged behind in terms of addressing the issue of maternal mortality.
According to Shettima, a country is judged according to how it treats its women that was why the foundation supported Advocacy Nigeria with grants to fight the challenges of maternal mortality.
“If in Nigeria a country of about 180 million is the second highest number of maternal mortality after India, then we are really behind.
“Remember, India is has a population of almost 900 million people; so the gap actually if it is per ratio means that Nigeria actually have the highest number.
“I think that is certainly not a good commentary on our country, therefore, we are hoping that we will be able to invest in our country toward reducing the problems of maternal mortality,’’ he said.
Mrs Saudatu Sani, the Executive Director, Advocacy Nigeria, said that the organisation was established to curb cases of maternal mortality in Nigeria.
Sani said that the group had improved interventions in maternal health awareness, reduction in maternal mortality ratio, increase family planning intake and reduction in infant mortality rate among others.
She said it was in pursuant of the above that the MacArthur Foundation entrusted the group with resources to carry out advocacy on maternal health in Adamawa, Gombe and Zamfara states.
She urged the government, politicians and NGOs to continue to support the fight against maternal mortality.