In a move to create awareness of the direct and indirect costs of stillbirths, Her Excellency Mrs. ToyinSaraki, Founder-President of the leading maternal health NGO – Wellbeing Foundation Africa, today spoke with the BBCto call for improvements in health education and access to primary healthcare – key elements to reducing stillbirths around the world. Mrs Saraki, who tragically lost one of her twins due to failures in the Nigerian public health care system, stated, “I was fighting for one life and bewildered how to mourn the other life…People did not know whether to congratulate or commiserate with me.”
Sharing with the BBC, the WBFA Founder further stated, “stillbirths often go unrecorded, let alone lead to counselling. This is why I started the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, which works to improve reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health across the continent.”
Listen to the interview:
https://soundcloud.com/bbcafrica/majority-of-still-births-occur-in-africa-but-how-does-a-mother-deal-with-the-loss
Wellbeing Foundation Africa Founder Shares Personal Stillbirth Experience with British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Currently, Nigeria has the second highest estimated stillbirth rate, with more than 300,000 stillbirths in 2015 – of which more than half occurred during labour and birth.Speaking to BBC Focus On AfricaRadio Correspondent AkwasiSarpong, Mrs. ToyinSaraki shared her personal birth story while discussing how it inspired her efforts, through the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, to end stillbirths. Mrs. Saraki, who tragically lost one of her twins due to failures in the Nigerian public health care system, stated, “I was fighting for one life and bewildered how to mourn the other life… People did not know whether to congratulate or commiserate with me.”
According to Mrs.Saraki, this experience informed her decision to co-author the third report in the Lancet‘Ending Preventable Stillbirths’ Series launched on 19th January 2015, titled Stillbirths: economic and psychosocial consequences.In this report, Mrs. Saraki and WBFA provided a unique perspective on stillbirths in sub-Saharan Africa; sharing interventions such as the WBFA Personal Health Records, the Foundation’s emergency obstetric and newborn care training with Johnson & Johnson and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and their work on Respectful Maternity Care for new and expectant mothers.
Sharing with the BBC, the WBFA Founder further stated, “stillbirths often go unrecorded, let alone lead to counselling. This is why I started the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, which works to improve reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health across the continent.”
In a subsequent BBC World Impact interview with presenter Philippa Thomas, ToyinSarakialso discussed the stigma tied to stillbirth, speaking of the need to bring awareness to this issue and share stories as according to studies, 4% of care providers in low- and middle-income countries attributed stillbirth to a mother’s fault, 12% agreed that parents should not talk about their stillborn baby, and only 19% agreed that a death before birth is the same as a death of a child. She pointed to progress made by Rwanda on reducing stillbirth rates as a way forward for Nigeria and the world.
Following this interview, Mrs. Saraki also participated in a short section for BBC Hausa and BBC Online where she shared what women should do during pregnancy to prevent stillbirths, sharing information on monitoring pregnancy and measures that can be taken to save newborns.
In her interview with Sophie Ikenye of BBC Focus on Africa TV, due to be shown at 5.30pm (GMT) on 19/11/16 on BBC World, MrsSaraki lamented the current rate of progress, it will be more than 160 years before a pregnant woman in Africa has the same chance of her baby being born alive as a woman in a high-income country today. She spoke about the Wellbeing Foundation’s work to leapfrog progess to ensure that the lottery of one’s birth location does not affect one’s survival – in every country.
In addition to leading the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, Mrs. ToyinSaraki is theNewborn Champion for Save the Children Nigeria, the Global Goodwill Ambassador for the International Confederation of Midwifes, the Grand Patron of White Ribbon Alliance Nigeria, the Champion for White Ribbon Alliance Global, and the Wife of the Nigeria Senate President.
Source: Sync Media
