The Rotary Action Group for Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health (RMCH) has called for institutionalisation of the implementation of the Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR).
The MPDSR is a policy of the Federal Government aimed at improving quality of care of women of child-bearing age.
Prof. Emmanuel Lufadeju, National Coordinator, Rotary RMCH, who spoke on Thursday during a webinar workshop series organised by the Rotary Action Group for RMCH, noted that MPDSR was aimed at improving maternal and child health indices in the country.
Rotary Action Group for RMCH organised the workshop with support from Rotary International and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Lufadeju said that MPDSR would need to be institutionalised by states for effective outcomes.
According to him, experts confirmed it as one of the most useful policies and the most effective tool of the Federal Government to reduce maternal and infant mortality.
He said: “Having a programme like the MPDSR, a policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria to improve quality of care of women of child-bearing age, we need to institutionalise its implementation, and the way to do that is to propose a bill at the National Assembly.
“Its aim is to monitor maternal and infant delivery process to document deaths as a result of child birth and pregnancy complications and to be able to determine the causes of mortalities and to respond by instituting corrective/ preventive interventions at the facility, community and private levels.”
According to him, emerging evidence from practical lessons learnt from the operations of the web-based electronic platform for data management on MPDSR across Nigeria since 2015 are laudable.
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“There is a suggestion that it has the potential to accelerate rapid reduction in maternal and perinatal deaths in the country.
“Rotary International (RI) initiated a stakeholders meeting, which was chaired by the Director of Reproductive Health, at the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH).
“That meeting was attended by many organisations including UNFPA, NPHCDA, PPFN, SOGHON, and at that meeting, it was agreed that legislation should be proposed on MPDSR and that this legislation should be promoted by RI because we initiated the process,’’ he said.
The Rotary RMNH coordinator said that the bill, sponsored by RI and Rotary Action Group for Maternal and Perinatal, had gone through its first reading.
He, However, explained that in order to establish sustainability of the MPDRS programme, it must be domesticated.
Dr. Nicholas Lack, RMCH Consultant, spoke at the event on “The Nigerian Obstetric Quality Assurance Network and its contribution to MPDSR’’.
He explained that, with the NOQA-Network, the health system was digitised and the network covered all levels of health care.
“NOQA-Network gives objective data, enables efficient intervention, embraces MCH, MPDSR and family planning. It is hosted in Nigeria and run by experts and the MPDSR Committee.”
Dr. Samuel Oyeniyi, Deputy Director, Safemotherhood, FMoH, and National Desk Officer of MPDSR, said that integration of NOQA Network into the MPDSR Family Planning Component was key.
According to him, the importance of integration of NOQA include enhancing coordination, improving partnership, cost effectiveness, increasing efficiency and work synergy, and reducing maternal and newborn deaths,’’ he said.(NAN)
