Antenatal Care: NGO calls for increased awareness in Gombe

The Saif Advocacy Foundation (SAIF) has called for intensified awareness campaigns to improve women’s access to antenatal care (ANC) services across Gombe State.

Mr Alhassan Yahya, the Executive Director of SAIF, highlighted the importance of ANC in reducing maternal mortality rates.

He noted that while Gombe State had made significant progress in improving healthcare access, there were still gaps in ANC uptake that required urgent attention.

Yahya emphasised that pregnant women were expected to visit healthcare facilities at least eight times before delivery, but noted that many women in the state were failing to meet this goal.

He emphasised that improving ANC access was essential to protect the health of both mothers and their unborn babies, and to drastically reduce the risk of death during delivery.

“ANC is in the red in Gombe State. More efforts are needed to improve antenatal care services towards reducing maternal mortality,” Yahya stated.

While SAIF and other partners had made progress in advocating for improved healthcare access, Yahya called for further efforts to encourage pregnant women and their families to embrace early ANC.

He urged the media and stakeholders to support these efforts and to push for more resources from the state government to boost awareness and increase ANC access.

Hajiya Farida Dunama, the Programme Officer at SAIF, highlighted that a recent three-month initiative funded by the Clinton Health Access Initiative had helped engage stakeholders and raise awareness.

In spite of these efforts, she called for greater community involvement in maternal and sexual reproductive health education, which she believed would lead to reduced maternal mortality.

Saudatu Isa, a consultant with the Clinton Health Access Initiative, echoed the call for a collective approach to healthcare access.

She emphasised that all stakeholders needed to work together to ensure that women, regardless of their background or location, had access to the essential healthcare services they required.