Nigeria
1. Video Edutainment: Impact on Maternal and Infant Outcomes in Toro, Nigeria
This project is implemented by the Federation of Muslim Women Associations in Nigeria in collaboration with McGill University in Canada and the Bauchi State government in Nigeria.
While maternal mortality has decreased globally, Nigeria remains a country with some greatest challenges – having the highest numbers of maternal deaths. In Northern Nigeria, women continue to die during childbirth at an alarming rate - approximately four times the national average. Access to health care is a major challenge for most women that live in remote communities – very far from health services. Gaps in seeking health care have also been associated with, among others, the lack of understanding of danger signs during pregnancy and childbirth, lack of communication within households.
To move beyond the challenges for attending traditional health services, this project utilizes a home-visiting approach that stimulates access to health care and engages spouses at a household level. Home visits include discussion about the actionable risk factors – heavy work in pregnancy, domestic violence, lack of spousal communication and lack of knowledge about danger signs – through a video-edutainment intervention that provides information about these risks. Further, innovative use of digital technology enhances identification of women that need urgent referral as well as collection of real time data on the health of mothers.
2. Synergies in video edutainment: Child spacing and regional training for rollout in Bauchi, Nigeria
This project is implemented by the Federation of Muslim Women Associations in Nigeria in collaboration with McGill University in Canada, the Bauchi State Ministry of Health in Nigeria, the Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency and the Toro Local Government Authority in Bauchi.
In Northern Nigeria, close birth spacing as well as complications from multiple births compounded risks that are associated with high numbers of maternal deaths and sub-optimal child health outcomes. Further, understanding cultural beliefs related to birth spacing is critical for establishing relevant approaches to address challenges associated with maternal and child mortality.
This project explores a local understanding of the causes, consequences, and protective factors associated with short birth spacing, known as kunika. By utilizing participatory approaches for dialogue with local decision-makers and communities, local evidence and interventions have shaped the focus on birth spacing. The roll out of a kunika module within the government home visiting curriculum has strengthened the capacity of nurses and midwifes to monitor, scale and sustain efforts to reach mothers and families.
3.Increasing Women's Access to Skilled Pregnancy Care in Nigeria
This project is implemented by the Women's Health and Action Research Centre in collaboration with the University of Ottawa in Canada and the Edo State Primary Health Care Development Agency in Nigeria.
Nigeria has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world – due in part to the inadequate access to skilled care during pregnancy and delivery. Only two out of every three women receive antenatal care and less than one in three receive skilled care during delivery. Common barriers for accessing care during pregnancy and childbirth include challenges in paying for health services, lack of transportation and distance to health care, perceptions about the negative attitudes of health workers, and lack of permission from husbands and other family members for seeking health care.
This project aims at reducing the high rate of maternal and child mortality in the rural areas of Edo State, by implementing community-led interventions that increase women’s access to skilled care during pregnancy. Interventions for this project focus on the implementation of a community health insurance scheme that eliminates point of service payment for pregnant women, establishing a rapid SMS service that link pregnant women to emergency transport services, strengthening the skills of primary health care providers and the establishment of a community revolving fund promoting better access to medicine.