Safe Motherhood

Safe motherhood Empowerment and Enlightenment Initiative (SMEEI) is engage in the following activities to encourage women to access skilled child birth care.

 Public education of pregnant women, their spouses, relations, friends, social and spiritual mentors on the need for skilled Antenatal care. Antenatal care connects women to the idea of delivering in a skilled health facility. This is done through Television Enlightenment programs, Pregnant women’s health Seminars and Safe Men’s Forum (where husbands and other men are educated on the childbirth process and the need for skilled care)

We also train women to recognize danger signs so they will know at what point they should be sure to seek out emergency care in a hospital.

Join us today and Safe a life.

THE VALUE OF PRE-CONCEPTIONAL CARE AND EARLY ANTENATAL CARE

THE VALUE OF PRE-CONCEPTIONAL CARE AND EARLY ANTENATAL CARE

Pre-conception as to do with “before pregnancy takes place” therefore PRE-CONCEPTIONAL CARE has to do with the necessary measures a woman has to take before she takes in, and most of those measures are;

B. P CHECK

It is important that you have your blood pressure checked before pregnancy; to be sure it is in good condition to take in, and to avoid complications during delivery. High blood pressure during pregnancy can kill the baby and/or the mother who can die from fits.

FASTING BLOOD SUGAR

This is the process of checking your sugar level before conception’’, because high sugar level in the pregnant woman can kill the baby in the womb two to three weeks before delivery.

PRE-CONCEPTIONAL ULTRA SOUND SCANNING

Some women have sub mucous fibroid, which is found under the lining of the womb, which can cause several miscarriages. So in order to avoid this from happening, it is advisable that you do a PRE-CONCEPTIONAL ULTRA SOUND SCANNING, so that the fibroid could be discovered on time and removed before the conception takes place.

PRE-CONCEPTIONAL HEMOGLOBIN ESTIMATION:

This has to do with checking your blood level before conception, especially women that deliver frequently; such women normally become very anemic because they are losing so much blood and if that is not properly handled, can lead to death.

FOLIC ACID.

When a woman is pregnant she is given folic acid, and the reason she is given folic acid is because it helps in the proper growth of the baby”, and folic acid is very important in mitosis {a type of cell division that result in two daughter cells } because without it the cells cannot divide, and this can lead to a pregnant woman giving birth to a mal-formed baby.

So we encourage you women to always take your folic acid, even before conception.

We also recommended;

Ø That you deworm yourself

Ø Treat typhoid

Ø Malaria parasite

Ø Do Urinalysis

Ø Stull analysis

Ø Urine microscopic culture and sensitivity etc.

Some of us may ask,

 WHY EARLY ANTENATAL CARE?

v To get basic information about you, like;

§  Your B.P

§  Your weight

§  Your sugar level

§  Your H.B

§  Your blood group

§  To discover infection

§  To discover infestation

§  To find out the age of the baby(gestational age)

§  To know the number of babies

THE SAFE BIRTH PLACE

IN RESPONSE TO THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN ASKING FOR THE BEST PLACE TO DELIVER THEIR BABY
• The best place for women to deliver is a centre with comprehensive emergency obstetric care facilities/personnel. This is a health facility where emergency surgery like caesarean section can be done when needed. This is a facility with drugs, consumables, equipment and personnel to take care of complications that can arise during pregnancy and labour. Women should be helped to access such facilities by ensuring they get to such centres when necessary providing money for antenatal care and procedures that may need to be done;
Untrained or unskilled child birth attendants are dangerous. They can convert a normal labour to an abnormal labour. Some women being delivered by them can mean death or secondary infertility. Some of them do not engage infection prevention methods of delivery and so can transfer germs from themselves and their environment into the laboring women. They do not wear sterile gloves and masks that protect women from germs;
• Awareness of pregnancy risks by men is important to ensure the safe delivery of their wives. Men will act decisively and quickly to take their women to the care of skilled personnel working in a centre with comprehensive emergency obstetric care facilities when such women have pregnancy risks which can take the lives of such women and/or their babies or can cause serious harm to them:
The following are such pregnancy risk factors
• Bleeding before labour
• Premature labour
• Hypertension
• Diabetes mellitus (abnormally high blood sugar level)
• Anaemia (lack of blood)
• Women under 15 or over 35 at their first pregnancies
• Short stature
• Multiple pregnancy
• Abnormal presentation and positioning of baby
• Fibroid in pregnancy
• Breaking of the bag of waters before labour
• Greenish staining of liquor (water surrounding the baby)
• Fever
• Severe bleeding following previous birth.

This is why we at safe motherhood do our best to ensure that all that is needed for safe delivery of all women is available in all of our facilities and we are always open to accept you.
At No. 1 Obudu Str. Mile 2 Port Harcourt, or No. 3 Trinity Close Mini Woji, Woji Port-Harcourt.

PREGNANCY IS RISKY BUT IT CAN BE SAFE

Decision to get pregnant is a decision to take a risk. It can take lives. You can lose your life or that of your baby or both if you are not well informed about the birth process and issues that can arise from it. Pregnancy is not a state of health. All pregnant women should be aware of this fact.

A pregnant woman can be healthy at this moment and become very sick the next moment.

The spouses need to know this fact (safe men’s forum).

Mentors of pregnant women need also to know this fact. The risks can be mitigated by appropriate actions by all involved including the birth care giver.   

All pregnant women can have safe delivery if all concerned respond appropriately to forestall or handle risky challenges that crop up.

Pregnancy is a state of health – is a wrong thought.

I can deliver anywhere I want or like – is a wrong thought.

Unskilled birth attendants can facilitate death. They have no training to prempt, detect or handle complications that can arise during pregnancy, labour and delivery.

Ill health can be induced by handlers of pregnancy and child birth. Ill health can arise spontaneously as pregnancy advances or during labour and delivery.

v High blood pressure

v Anaemia

v Bleeding during pregnancy, before labour and delivery or after delivery.

Wrong thoughts, wrong ideas - are reasons for unsafe child birth. Prompt and appropriate response saves lives.

A pregnant woman or her baby can die because of issues that can arise out of the pregnancy.

The baby is usually the first victim of unsafe and unskilled childbirth. Actions and responses are part of the big picture.

Responses to pregnancy by the woman, spouse, mentors, and care givers determine its outcome. Poor response, poor outcome. Appropriate response, good outcome. Inappropriate response, poor outcome. No response is inappropriate response.

Pregnancy is an event or occurrence and people must respond to it.

Complications is an event. The response to it determines also the outcome.

Books on pregnancy-related topics if read can influence response to pregnancy positively. It can influence the reader to respond appropriately  to pregnancy.

Infections from the hands, mouths and nostrils  of unsafe care givers to laboring women can cause their demise.

People don’t know that pregnancy is an event that can take lives. If they do, they can decide not to be pregnant (Contraceptive practice). They can also decide to save in order to respond appropriately to issues that may arise.

“ I shall deliver like the Hebrew women,” make people think there will be no risk to pregnancy. When complications arise they are ill-prepared to handle it. That you went through pregnancy and have no problems does not mean that pregnancy is not risky. It does not mean that the next pregnancy will also be risk-free.

To be on the safe side every pregnant woman should be handled by skilled birth attendants.

A risky journey does not mean that some people cannot still go through it without problems. It means that everybody has to go through that journey fully alert and prepared to avoid or handle challenges that can arise.

Pregnancy is risky because it has potentials for causing death or severe illness. Some factors can trigger such complications. That one person died solely because she was pregnant is enough to regard pregnancy as risky. No child is born to die.

Pregnancy is risky, but many people don’t know. Help spread the information. Denying this fact is not faith but delusion – believing a lie. Something can be done to make it safe. Pregnancy is the major reason for death of young women across the world.

The Hebrew women mentioned in the bible;

v Married as virgins

v  Had a righteous covenant relationship with God

v Had antenatal child birth care in a government -recognized health facility.

v Were attended to by qualified midwives and doctors who had relevant trainings and certificates to show

v Did not deliver on mats, pumpkin leaves or bare floors

v Were not delivered  by  uneducated birth attendants who do not know risks associated with pregnancy

v Were not delivered by people who have no capacity to respond to life-threatening complications.

Pregnancy is risky but the risk can be preempted, avoided or handled by trained personnel working in a place with comprehensive emergency obstetric care facilities and personnel. Risk – taking – is the practice of doing something that involves risks in order to achieve something.

Any risky venture requires preparations to avoid or mitigate risk that can arise.

God has provided a way to make pregnancy safe – skilled child birth care. Believing it is faith – it is believing the truth.

There is but one BEST way to solve every situation that confronts you. That BEST way is the truth. To know it is to make you free from all worry or trouble in connection with that situation. For if it is met in the right way only good can come out of it. If you know that even though pregnancy is risky but that you can be safe if you subscribe to skilled care, anxiety, doubt, fear will be gone as you actually subscribe to skilled care.   

Faith will arise in your heart for safety since you know you are going about that pregnancy the best way.

The pregnant woman needs to know pregnancy is risky but the risks can be handled through skilled care.

Pregnant women can take appropriate steps to ensure their safety.

How? By listening to and watching pregnancy-related public enlightenment programmes on:

v TV

v Radio

v Internet

v Churches, Mosques

v Bill boards

v Books and Booklets

v Pamphlets

v Tracts

Pregnancy is risky. Do not leave it to chance. Subscribe to skilled care. Complications that take lives can arise at any stage. Get to know more about pregnancy and how to be safe.

Visit the Safe Motherhood Emp. and Enlight Initative (SMEEI). Getting pregnant may mean the end of your life. Get to know how to be safe. Know how to avoid/handle pregnancy – related life – threatening complications.

Having sex may mean the end of your life.

Get to know how to have safe sex. Denial of the risk of pregnancy is not faith but delusion – believing a lie.

The truth is that almost all pregnant women can be safe inspite of the risks if they subscribe to skilled care.

I shall deliver like the Hebrew women is delusion if skilled care is avoided.

Pregnancy is risky but you can be safe if you follow instructions of professional child birth care givers.

To think there is no risk to pregnancy is a wrong thought. That kind of thought can lead to complacency and death.

Complacency means

v No antenatal care

v Poor antenatal care

v Avoiding needed caesarean section

v No tetanus immunization

v No Rhogam for women with Rhesus negative blood group

v No savings towards delivery

v Ignoring signs of complications like

·       Antepartum hemorrhage (bleeding before delivery)

·       Premature rupture of membranes

·       Prolonged labour

v Avoiding skilled antenatal care

v Ignoring treatments needed during pregnancy – malaria treatment, Typhoid treatment, cerclage for women with cervical incompetence.

v Doing nothing about prolonged pregnancy

The risk of pregnancy is the reason people are trained to handle pregnancy. It is wisdom to make use of such trained medical personnel. Giving to people who have no training when pregnant can mean the end of your life and that of your baby. It can also mean frustrations for the rest of your life if you survive the pregnancy.