By Lanre Oloyede
People living with disability in Nigeria now have a policy document that guarantees their inclusion in reproductive health care delivery in the country.
The document which was launched Tuesday by the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, is designed to address sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents and pregnant women particularly, women with disability with the aim of scaling down the rate of maternal mortality among child bearing mothers.
According Professor Isaac Adewole, the document is aimed at repositioning all sexual and reproductive health programmes to reach and serve the sexual and reproductive health needs of women and girls with disabilities who are disproportionately affected.
The policy is also expected to serve as an advocacy and resource mobilization tool to stimulate government and community actions at all level of health care delivery system.
Maternal mortality remains unacceptably high in Nigeria, with the country ranking among the highest in the world while the rate of reducing these deaths have been slow as many of the contributory factors remain unaddressed.
A World Health Organization (WHO) report estimated that Nigeria has approximately 58,000 maternal deaths, accounting for 19% globally. This means that at least 800 women die in every 100,000 live births.
Northeast of Nigeria is said to have the highest maternal mortality rate, compared to other regions, with 1,549 deaths per 100,000 live births.
To address the high maternal mortality rates, Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole in July 2017 inaugurated a 34-member Task Force to accelerate reduction of maternal mortality in Nigeria.
Adewole said the Ministry will continue to work with its development partners to reduce the prevalence of deaths due to child birth among women in the country.
He added that the federal government is committed to providing qualitative and accessible sexual and reproductive healthcare service to all Nigerians, while also reiterating Federal government’s commitment to achieving the Universal Health Coverage mandate for all Nigerians.
Earlier in her goodwill address, Dr. Duchess Irene Ojiugo, the Executive Director, Disability Rights Advocacy Centre, DRAC – one of the major development partners resourceful to the drafting of the policy document – said the document which was put together after painstaking years of research in collaboration with other developments partners will help strengthen the health system at the community level where health services is most needed, and it is expected to be distributed to all health service points across the country.
