UNFPA, stakeholders partner to eliminate maternal, perinatal mortality in Kaduna

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is working with stakeholders in Kaduna State to eliminate preventable maternal and perinatal mortality at the community level.

Mr Shinkut Sheyin, the State Implementing Partner for UNFPA Projects at the Planning and Budget Commission, made this known in an interview in Kaduna on Tuesday.

Sheyin said this was being done through the scale up of the Community Maternal, Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (cMPDSR) model in the state.

He said community involvement in MPDSR was part of the Fund’s Behavioral Change Communication programme.

According to him, the move is to increase access to sexual and reproductive health information and services by women, adolescents and youths who are often left further behind.

He described MPDSR as an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding each maternal and perinatal death, including any preventable breakdown in care whether from the household or health facility.

“This is usually done at the facility level, but when the community is involved, it becomes cMPDSR.

“At the community level, members deliberate on the possible cultural, social and health factors that may have contributed to maternal or child death and discuss ways to eliminate them and prevent future occurrences,” he said.

He added that the community meets monthly to discuss factors associated with maternal and perinatal deaths and promote institutional delivery through verbal autopsy.

NAN reports that verbal autopsy is a method of determining individuals’ causes of death and cause-specific mortality fractions in populations without a complete vital registration system.

Verbal autopsies consist of a trained interviewer using a questionnaire to collect information about the signs, symptoms and demographic characteristics of a recently deceased person from an individual familiar with the deceased.

Sheyin said UNFPA had supported the scale up of cMPDSR to five remaining local government areas of Kaduna North, Chikun, Zaria, Birnin Gwari and Igabi, thereby covering the entire 23 Council areas.

He said that the 55 new cMPDSR committee members in the five councils were inaugurated and trained on cMPDSR implementation and reporting tools and were mobilised to commence cMPDSR in their councils.

Sheyin said the committee members comprise of 11 persons per council, including Reproductive Health Coordinator of councils, traditional birth attendants and Health Management Information System focal person.

Others are officer-in-charge of hospitals, Health Secretary and community engagement focal person.

He added that to eliminate preventable causes of maternal and perinatal deaths, particularly at the health facility level, data on MPDSR activities were collected from the 30 secondary facilities in the state.

He said that the data were analyzed and validated by key stakeholders, adding that the 2021 MPDSR Annual Report was also reviewed and would soon be disseminated.