- By Kene Obiezu
Sir: Some days ago, Nigerians were shocked by the heart-breaking story of how one Kemi Folajimi, a pregnant woman died because her husband could not afford the sum of N500,000 upfront at a private hospital in Lagos. They were directed to the General Hospital in Epe but the woman did not survive the journey.
The woman has gone down as one more victim in a country that is struggling badly at the moment.
As with every crisis that affects society, women in their role as caregivers have been most affected by the current economic crisis in Nigeria. In making their homes in these tough times, women are faced with a barrage of questions about how to make things work and how to keep the ship from breaking with meagre resources. It is taxing even the most industrious of women.
This unbearable pressure is proving especially backbreaking for women who have to bring forth new life in addition to making their homes, and being tasked with contributing to the growth and development of the society, all while remaining invisible.
For women in Nigeria, risk does not just come from the unpredictability of a society that is heavily and unjustifiably parochial; risk is also very present in childbirth. In a country where women are made to shoulder all manner of burdens, conception, pregnancy, childbirth and post-natal period carry grave risks.
Nigeria’s healthcare system is broken. It has been broken for a while. Indeed, Nigeria’s decline as a country began when its health and education systems began to break down simultaneously.
For many poor Nigerians, and there are many, many illnesses are life-threatening, not because they are not treatable, but because medical care is either inaccessible or too expensive.
It is even worse for Nigerians in rural areas where primary healthcare centres lie in ruins.
Amidst rising cost of goods and services, how are families expected to cope? How are low-income families expected to take care of their children? In a country where social security is embarrassingly low, how are families who have no money expected to foot increasingly stratospheric bills? Why is the government not asking serious questions about how families are resetting and juggling their priorities at a time when resources are extremely tight?
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It is an unforgivable aberration that a woman who has carried a child to term should die during childbirth for any reason. It is a great anomaly that death should come at the point of childbearing.
Infant and maternal mortality is not just any kind of mortality; it is the worst kind of mortality. It is a mortality that indicts entire countries.
Adequate provision should be made for mother and child to access quality healthcare before, during and after childbirth. Medical services during this crucial period should be made completely or at least heavily subsidized. Families should also be properly educated about the need to access life-saving care during these crucial periods.
Reducing maternal and infant mortality to the barest minimum should be the starting point of the conversation for a country that aspires to grow.
Nigeria cannot develop if the basic provisions that underpin any developed country continue to remain criminally absent.
•Kene Obiezu,
keneobiezu@gmail.com