Umar Adamu, the official in charge of the centre, told SaharaReporters, “In this PHC we have only one permanent staff supported by volunteers in running our services.
Fourteen communities rely on a single permanent staff member at the Cheku Primary Health Care (PHC) Centre in the Lapai Local Government Area of Niger State.
Umar Adamu, the official in charge of the centre, told SaharaReporters, “In this PHC we have only one permanent staff supported by volunteers in running our services.
“The people from Edo, Yelwa, Bina, and others visit this facility on a daily basis.”
The centre consists of 13 rooms, but the facility faces significant challenges, including a lack of water, insufficient bed space to admit patients, and no seats.
Umar further revealed that the ceiling of the building is perforated, making conditions unbearable.
“Birds and other animals have made the place their home,” he said.
The deteriorating state of the health centre has raised concerns among the residents of community, with the lack of essential resources making it difficult for staff and patients alike to cope with the demands of the facility.
Meanwhile, lack or shortage of midwives in Niger’s Primary Healthcare system has resulted in unsafe births and untreated post-partum issues, worsening preventable maternal mortality.
According to reports from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, despite some improvements in recent years, Nigeria still grapples with a high maternal mortality rate, currently standing at 821 per 100,000.
Specifically, in Niger state, this rate is 130 per 100,000, with under-5 maternal mortality at 103 per 100,000 live births and an infant mortality rate of 260 per 100,000 live births.
Shockingly, in Niger state, one out of every 95 women succumbs to pregnancy-related complications, resulting in an estimated annual toll of 1,934 deaths.
Most of these tragedies occur in rural and hard-to-reach communities, primarily due to the challenging terrain of the state, as the reporter found out.
Across all local government areas in the state, the leading causes of maternal mortality include post-partum hemorrhage (PPH) and eclampsia – a severe complication of pregnancy characterised by seizures, often occurring after high blood pressure (pre-eclampsia) has already been diagnosed, according to health officials.
Similarly, they lamented cases of birth asphyxia and neonatal sepsis – these are conditions where a newborn baby is deprived of oxygen, either during pregnancy, labour, or delivery, leading to potential complications such as brain damage or even death.
And as for the neonatal sepsis, it is a bacterial infection that occurs in the bloodstream of newborn babies, typically within the first month of life and often lead to serious complications if not promptly treated, including organ failure and death.
And either of these can emerge as significant contributors to neonatal mortality in the state.