MamaYe is helping the Kano State health sector and the people of Kano in the fight against maternal and newborn mortality, and will now launch to intensify public actions for maternal and newborn survival.
In 2008, the Kano State Health Service Management Board estimated that the state maternal mortality ratio was 1,600 deaths/100,000 live births, three times the national average. That was seven years after the State started free maternal and child health policy (in 2001), the first State to do so in Nigeria.Also in 2008, 56% of women reported in a survey that they faced a serious problem of not getting money to access care.But in 2009, the state established a blood bank at Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital in Kano. The Governor and the Commissioner for Health both donated blood to launch the blood donation campaign. The State has taken many other commendable steps to save lives of pregnant mothers and newborns, but there are many more challenges. Inadequate manpower, poor infrastructure, deficient blood supply and blood banks, essential drugs stock-outs and poor staff remuneration are some of the struggles that still make clinics unsafe for pregnant women to give birth.This is why the MamaYe campaign is launched in Kano today, (October 10th 2013) to support public actions to help save the lives of mothers and babies.Already, MamaYe has been taking actions to help improve maternal and newborn health in Kano state. The Commissioner for Health in the State, Dr Abubakar Labaran, once commended MamaYe for utilising existing data to advocate for improved accountability, planning and decision-making in the health sector.The essence of the launch is to intensify public actions for maternal and newborn survival.The Regional coordinator for MamaYe campaign in Northern Nigeria, Dr. Aminu Magashi Garba said “More mothers and babies in Kano are surviving pregnancy and childbirth than ever before, but as the shocking survey above shows, so much more still needs to be done by all stakeholders, not just ‘the Ministry’ or ‘the government’ or ‘the UN’.“Ensuring women have timely access to safe healthcare services, including sufficient blood supplies, could help save about 40,000 mothers and 240,000 babies a year.“We know change is possible. We know how to save the lives of mothers and newborns. But, first, Nigerians need to get involved and take action. Whether you are a taxi driver who can help take mothers to their local clinic; a girl training to be a midwife or a young man encouraging your sister to attend her antenatal clinic, you, too, can save a life.”Every day, Nigerian men and women like you can take action that could give a mother and her baby a future.MamaYe is helping the Kano State health sector and the people of Kano in the fight against maternal and newborn mortality by using data to advocate for evidence-based planning, distribution and utilisation of health commodities, financial and human resources.The campaign is using the launch as an opportunity to celebrate outstanding midwives and other health workers, activists, policy makers, organisations and individuals who are taking various actions that can improve maternal and newborn health and save lives of pregnant women and their newborns.Everyone is encouraged to join MamaYe, take action and make a life-saving change for mothers and babies.Together we are MamaYe!