JUMADA-AWWAL 7, 1429 A.H.
TUESDAY, MAY 13 2008
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Poverty, traditional practices lead to maternal mortality--Tasidi Muhd
Stories by RABI A. BATURE
POVERTY and harmful traditional practices have been identified as some major contributing factors to maternal mortality.
The founder of the Joint Women Health Foundation, Hajiya Tasidi Muhammad Yakasai, made this known when she visited our office last weekend.
According to her, 500,000 women die each year from pregnancy related complication, while 55,000 death occurred in Nigeria with only two per cent of the global population.
She explained that poverty is a contributing factor because in some parts of the world, women were meant to pay for hospital fees, which in essence prevents them from delivering at the hospital, saying that some harmful traditional practices are also some of the known reasons.
She said that in order to achieve a behavioural change toward eradicating harmful traditional practices and hospital visit by women, the foundation was founded in order to create more awareness on the need for women to realise the importance of going to hospital during pregnancy.
She further maintained that her organisation is also aimed at creating awareness on mother-to-child transfusion of HIV among child bearing women, adding that they also encourage child immunisation as well as organise workshops to pass information on reproductive health issues and democratic governance so that women should know how to vote for credible leaders.
She underscores the importance of democracy and good governance in every aspects of human life, saying that the target of their NGO is to penetrate to the grassroots whereby radio programmes will be used to disseminate information.
She said they would also network with other organisations with the aim to achieve the same goal.
Hajiya Tasidi added that they would come up with more programmes aimed at empowering the womenfolk.
The founder used the opportunity to thank the wife of the Kano state governor, Hajiya Halima Shekarau for all support she has been rendering to her NGO and also called on the well-to-do to emulate such gestures.
