Half of neonatal deaths in Kano are from maternal causes – Report

A report by a nongovernmental oganisation in Kano state, development Research and Project Centre (dRPC) has indicated that about half of deaths of children under the age of five in the state are from maternal causes.

This is contained in a report presented by the NGO while briefing the Executive Secretary, Kano State Primary Health Care Management Board (KSPHCMB), Dr Tijjani Hussaini, on its just concluded supporting coordinated civil society advocacy for Women, Children and Adolescent Health (WCAH) project in the state.

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Speaking during the visit, the Co-Chair of the project, Halima Ben Umar, said, “The health indices in Kano state indicated that the Maternal Mortality Ratio is 1,025/100,000, ANC1 attendance 67%, unmet need for contraception 13%, under-5 mortality rates of 1025 per 100,0007, 69 per 10008, and 203 per 10009 respectively.

“40.3% and 58.0% of children under-5 are underweight and stunted below 2SD. Research shows that fifty percent of neonatal deaths in Kano state are from maternal causes followed by asphyxia, prematurity, congenital malformations, and neonatal sepsis.

“Our target when we initiated the program was to make sure that health facilities have this strategy because it is what will help them to support RMNCAH-N services. If they don’t have these facilities, they cannot successfully implement it.

“The selected facilities, spread across Kano state, include tertiary and secondary, but are more of primary health care facilities,” Ben Umar added.

She said the program started in 2021 and has helped more women, children and adolescents to get more health access in the identified health facilities.

Responding, KSPHCMB ES, said the state government is also working on a policy that will standardise prices charged by government-owned health facilities across the state.

Dr Hussaini explained that his board will soon ensure that each facility displays prices of services provided by them for public to see, thereby reducing the cases of charging exorbitant prices.

He also said KSPHCMB is planning to make primary health care facilities in the state create ways of sourcing of resources internally, from sources that were hitherto abandoned, without waiting for government to fund them.

He thanked the NGO for the intervention and promised to keep working together to achieve their set objectives.