Maternal Mortality: Osun Unveils Policy On Safe Abortion

Osun State government has unveiled a “policy document on safe termination of pregnancy and its legal indications” in the state.

Representing the state government at the event, the special adviser on public health to the governor, Dr Akindele Adekunle, said the document is aimed at improving healthcare delivery services in the state, especially as it concerns the mother and child healthcare challenges.

“Nigeria is now ranked as having the second largest burden of maternal mortality in the world, after India. Most of these deaths are of known causes and are preventable. As Nigeria aligns with the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) efforts at eliminating all preventable maternal deaths by 2030, every effort must henceforth be made to identify and prevent every prevalent preventable cause of maternal deaths.

“More so, one major cause of preventable maternal deaths in Osun State is unsafe abortion. Therefore, this policy document for Osun State is intended to build the capacity of medical professionals to identify pregnancies for which the law is intended so that ethical and safe management can be instituted,”  Akindele said.

The governor’s aide called for support from the media  to ensure proper dissemination of the policy document and guidelines to the public for the benefit of the society, affirming that the dissemination of the policy document will improve on the provision of quality Reproductive Health services to the women of child-bearing age.

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He commended the development partner, MSI Reproductive Choices (Mariestopes Organisation) for their commitment to the domestication of the National Policy Document in the state while  acknowledging all the critical stakeholders both in the health and legal sectors, as well as security officers who participated in achieving the feat of producing and unveiling of the policy document.

The country director of MSI Nigeria Reproductive Choices, Dr. Emmanuel Ajah, who is the lead development partner collaborating with the state government on the production of the policy document, called for collaboration of critical stakeholders on effective implementation of the document.