Distributing Misoprostol and 4% Chlorhexidine by Community Based Volunteers

Abstract:

Childbirth is universally celebrated. For some, experience of childbirth is not joyful, but disappointment with fatal outcome; either the mother or the baby dies few days after delivery, or both the mother and the baby die during delivery. A mother’s death has profoundly bad consequences for her family, particularly for children left without a care giver.

Overcoming the high burden of maternal and reproductive health needs remain a challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Nigeria with a population of 160 million and where maternal mortality ratio has been estimated to be high. (UNFPA 2014, Safe the Children, 2013) [4].

For every cause of maternal death, many more women suffer due to the ignorance of preventing same cause of death (USA World Population Ref Bureau, 1997) [2]. UNICEF (2008) research showed that approximately 80 per cent of maternal deaths could be averted if women had access to essential maternity and basic health-care services [6]. This underscores the importance of having a skilled attendance at delivery. Most of these life-threatening complications can be reduced if skilled health personnel are easily available and key drugs, equipment and referral facilities are available and easily accessible. Unfortunately, in Bauchi state, Northern Nigeria, though skilled birth attendants may not exist in the right numbers in our health facilities, but the refusal of the people to attend the facilities may be a discouraging factor to government agents to getting more of the manpower work in places.

Hence the introduction of misoprostol for use by the women who chose to deliver at home becomes a wonderful way of addressing a life-threatening behavior; choice of home delivery. It is hoped that through the demand for misoprostol and chlorhexidine, mothers in Bauchi state would gradually imbibe the habit of the right choice; the choice of visiting the health facility for maternal and child health care.

In order to show the impact of the introduction of miso and CHX to the pregnant women of Bauchi state, especially those whose choice of delivery is the home setting; with or without the assistances of SBA, this analysis become imperative. Using an analytical study, the results of the acceptance and use of misoprostol CHX and by community women who delivered at home was conducted. At the end of the study, it was shown that 35,895 misoprostol and 35480 chlorexidine were distributed to women who delivered at home in Bauchi state after the baseline. This translates to 12% coverage for Bauchi state; equivalent to 63 lives of women saved and 63 lives of babies protected from cord infection and possibly death. The two commodities paved the way for improved interactions between the health volunteers and the community members. The volunteers

used the opportunities provided by the distribution of the two commodities to discuss otherwise knotty topics like child spacing, child immunization, visit to Health facilities for ANC and delivery and exclusive breast feeding.