Unsafe abortion still leading cause of maternal deaths – Gynaecologist

Abuja – Unsafe abortion is still the leading cause of maternal deaths in Nigeria, Dr Lawal Oyeneyin, the Chief Medical Director of the Mother and Child Hospital, Akure, has said.

Oyeneyin, participant at a workshop on Dissemination of Health Survey in Abuja on Friday said: “one of the commonest causes of maternal death in Nigeria is unsafe abortion practices, nobody has argued about that, what we advocate is that we should do all that we can to reduce unsafe abortion practices.

“It is when a pregnancy is not wanted that a woman will have the urge to want to terminate, and the fact that we have very restrictive laws makes it more likely that the woman will go underground to get the termination done,” he said.

He explained that it was important for Nigerians to be aware by making sure that they got the right education on how to reduce instances of unwanted pregnancies, adding that the aim of the workshop was to educate stakeholders in the health care sector on how to use misoprostol in post-abortion complications.

He describe misoprostol as a veritable tool to help to reduce maternal health by 75 per cent in line with the Millennium Development Goal 5.

Dr Ejike Oji, the Country Representative of IPAS, a reproductive health NGO, also spoke on the aim of the workshop, stating that it was important for medical practitioners to be grounded on the use of misoprostol in tackling childbirth complications.

He said that the ‘Training of Trainers’ workshop was necessary because the main programme would be on for the next five years in eight states namely, Katsina, Zamfara. Kano, Anambra, Ogun, Rivers, Abia and the FCT.

The workshop was organised by IPAS and Ventures Strategies Innovations (VSI).

VSI, a not-for-profit organisation, has been in Nigeria since 2005.

Its has its headquaters at the University of Berkley in Southern California. (NAN)