Professor Atiene Solomon Sagay - University of Jos Institutional ...

4. Posters of high-risk obstetric factors requiring referral should be placed in strategic
areas in the consulting rooms at PHCs to serve as reminders for the healthcare
workers.
5. Basic infrastructure in PHCs should be provided and maintained.
6. Each local government area should consider appointing a supervising consultant
obstetrician to maintain the standard of services in its PHCs.
PHCs in Jos are better staffed in comparison to PHCs in more rural communities in the State
(see Table 1). The poor antenatal services observed in PHCs around Jos are therefore likely to
be a more generalized problem. Sub-standard care in this situation does not only put pregnant
women‘s lives at risk but it represents a missed opportunity to impact positively on the poor
maternal and perinatal health statistics in the area.
4. Are there any concerns about survival of the newborn?
The global burden of newborn illness shows that a disparity of up to 30-folds exists between
countries with highest and lowest newborn death statistics. Four million babies die in
developing countries annually and about 42% of these deaths are due to infections. Other
major causes include perinatal asphyxia (21%), birth injuries (11%), prematurity and low
birth weight (10%) and congenital abnormalities (11%). It was also observed that two-thirds
of the deaths in the neonatal period occur in the first week; among these deaths, two-thirds
occurred within the first 24 hours.
skilled care at facility levels such as emergency obstetric care services are
recommended for saving maternal and newborn lives (Bhutta et al 2008).
scale-up of community and household care are necessary for improving
newborn and child survival
Programmes that are necessary for the reduction in neonatal morbidity and mortality rates are
for countries to employ rational mix of quality clinical services, effective public health
measures and inexpensive community-based interventions in public and private sectors and to
scale-up known cost-effective interventions such as the mother-baby packages. (Sule and
Onayade 2006). Strengthening Maternal Newborn and Child Health services at the primary
health-care level should be a priority for countries to reach their Millennium Development
Goal targets for reducing maternal and child mortality.
5. Are there emerging challenges to motherhood in the HIV era?
Trend of HIV prevalence in women in Plateau State
Our study of the HIV epidemic in pregnant women in Nigeria started in 1999 when we
reported the yearly trend of HIV sero-prevalence among pregnant women in Jos over a 10year
period (1989 – 1998). A total of 11,059 pregnant women were screened and 134 (1.24%)
were HIV positive. The yearly trend showed a rise in HIV sero-prevalence from 0.25% (1 in
394) in 1989 to 3.69% (1 in 27) in 1997(Sagay et al 1999). The trend of yearly HIV
prevalence among pregnant women from 1989 to 2001 is shown in Figure 1.
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