The Kano State Government has set a four-year target to achieve zero maternal mortality.
This follows a significant reduction in maternal mortality by about 50 per cent, from 1,206 to 570 cases in the last 18 months.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Abubakar Labaran, disclosed this on Tuesday during the learning and dissemination meeting of the Accelerating the Expanded Adoption of RMNCH Innovations and Health Reforms in Kano State (AEARI) project.
The meeting was organised by West and Central Africa Health Options (WCA) with support from Technical Advice Connect (TAConnect).
Labaran said the state has set a four-year target to end deaths of women during childbirth.
He noted that the state government has reduced maternal mortality by 50 per cent using innovations such as E-MOTIVE and others, as part of its commitment to achieving zero mortality.
“The directive by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf is zero mortality, and we are not compromising on that.
“We have achieved a lot. We started with 1,206 maternal deaths. Now it has dropped by at least 50 per cent, which is a significant achievement.
“The Kano State Government is fully committed to this goal,” he said.
Labaran added that the state has procured 484 ambulances to be deployed to 484 primary health centres (PHCs) to improve emergency transportation for women in labour.
He said Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has also approved the expansion of free maternal health commodities to women in labour across the 484 PHCs in the state.
The commissioner highlighted that interventions such as E-MOTIVE and calibrated grips have helped reduce maternal mortality.
“In the next one and a half years, we will reduce it further by another 25 to 30 per cent. Hopefully, within the next three to four years, we will achieve our target.
“So Kano is on the right path to eliminating maternal mortality,” he said.
Also speaking, Dr. Ufuoma Omo-Obi, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of WCA, said the organisation deployed innovative interventions to tertiary and primary health facilities in the state to reduce maternal mortality.
Obi said 14,000 safe deliveries were recorded using calibrated drugs for about 4,500 women in the last four months.
“And those that progressed to postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), about 507 of them, we were able to treat successfully.
“In the past, those would have been stark numbers of women dying. This programme was able to save those women,” she said.
According to Obi, the programme is training 800 health workers and collaborating with skilled birth attendants in facilities to provide a broad range of services.
