My Dear Aspirant
Let me start by congratulating you for emerging as a winner during your primary election.
I will like to draw your attention, as well as give you a reminder, to why people will cast their vote for you since they believe you are the agent of change.
As you solicit for our votes, I want a written pledge from you containing the change you will adopt, which will lead to massive reduction of maternal and infant mortality in your constituency, join hands and be actively involved in changing the plight of child bearing age women from doom to boom. I want them to experience pregnancy and childbirth with joy and happiness, not with fear and sorrow.
During the campaign, instead of the wrappers, sachets of OMO or salt that you distribute to women, why don’t we pile up the money and equip maternities under your constituency with forceps, bleach, delivery packs and other basic working tools. This will go a long way in enhancing conduction of safe delivery in these facilities.Women contribute the largest percentage of the population, why don’t we better their lives in order to better the life of the society at large. I have drawn some strategies that if put in place will enhance positively on the survival of mothers and babies.Construction of health posts in remote villages, because I have the opportunity of conducting a research programme with a development organisation, I have seen first hand, villages that do not have a health facility, not even a dispensary or a health post.Equip these health facilities with midwives 24/7 to ensure services throughout morning, evening and night so that these women can access such services anytime. You as a member representing our constituency can remunerate these midwives personally to motivate them to stay by making sure they have good accommodation, provision of generator and potable water.As part of plan to get nurses and midwives why don’t we go back to the Community Secondary School find out the students that are performing well and make sure they have gotten admission into School of Nursing and Midwifery by doing so if they are from the community they will have the interest to serve such community rather than bringing Urban Based Nurses and Midwives to such communities.To ensure availability of life-saving drugs from the little constituency money we can supply our health facilities with drugs such as Antenatal drugs including preventive sulphurdoxine and Pyramethamine and resuscitative drugs. The drug-revolving fund initiative should be made to work well so that even the poorest family can be able to afford drugs.Hemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal mortality. These facilities should be equipped with blood storing facilities such as refrigerators, reagents for testing blood bleeding bags and anticoagulants for safe and easy storage of blood 24/7 and also such facility should also have a generator in case there is power failure.By providing ambulance to such facilities, one ambulance can cater for many facilities for easy transportation of referred pregnant women (in labour). While you are in the State House of Assembly, please make sure you set the motion for free maternal and health services in our State so that even the poorest families will have access to healthcare services since it is free, because most people delay seeking health care due to the cost involved, and if it is free, the hospital patronage will increase.Why don’t we empower women at the community level by providing them with interest free loans so that they can start small businesses. This will help them in long run because they would have becomeconomically empowered, and they would not have to wait for their male counterparts which always lead to delay before accessing medical care. This will go a long way in saving the lives of our pregnant women and newborns, and reduce the burden of maternal and newborn deaths in Bauchi State.I will be grateful if my reminder is given favorable consideration, and I wish you victory in your forthcoming election, and may God be your guide.Thank you, Hadiza IbrahimHadiza Ibrahim is a 300 level student of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi. She's a MamaYe student activist in Bauchi State.