‘We have Successfully Repaired 6,000 VVF in Jigawa’

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has carried out 90,000 deliveries and 6,000 successful Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) repairs in Jigawa State thereby reducing maternal morbidity and mortality in the state.

The MSF’s Senior Manager, Dr. Marie-Hortense Koudika, disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja after a workshop in collaboration with the Jigawa State Government.

The MSF, which is also known as Doctors Without Borders, is an international non-governmental organisation that is providing humanitarian medical care.

Koudika said that the organisation also carried out 18,000 C-sections, 143,000 hospitalisations and 19,000 newborn admissions at the Jahun General Hospital in Jigawa State in collaboration with the Jigawa State Government in the last 15 years.

The head of MSF’s mission, Mr. Abdel Kader Issaly, said that only half of pregnant women in Jigawa State attended antenatal with most of them delivering at home thereby making them susceptible to complications.

The Commissioner of Health Jigawa State, Dr. Muhammed Adbullahi Kainuwa, said that the state government is working to scaling up maternal health services across all facilities in the 27 local government areas of the state.

He said that as a result of MSF intervention, patients come from neighbouring states like Kano, Katsina and even Niger Republic to access maternal care services.

The MSF started its fistula repair project at the Jahub General Hospital in 2008, according to a statement, which said that “over the years, the project evolved to provide comprehensive emergency maternal obstetrics and neonatal care (CEmONC) and support to the ministry of health in the hospital. MSF is also intervening by supporting basic emergency maternal obstetrics and neonatal care (BEmONCs) in four primary health facilities in Jahun, Aujara, Miga and Taura.

“From January to June, MSF team provides 19,894 women with ante-natal care, recorded 143 vesico-vaginal fistula (VVF) patient admissions and conducted 162 VVF surgeries.”

The international medical aid group hosted a three-day workshop between Monday, October 23 and Wednesday October 25 in Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on “Reducing Maternal Morbidity and Mortality in Jigawa State, North-west Nigeria.”

The event brought together major stakeholders to dissect the impact the 15-year Jahun project has had in Jigawa State and to draw a roadmap on the way forward.

Over 60 representatives from MSF, Jigawa State, and federal government officials, as well as members of other humanitarian organisations, were in attendance to brainstorm on ways to expand access to healthcare and improve maternal and neonatal outcomes in the state.