3.Increasing Women's Access to Skilled Pregnancy Care in Nigeria
This project is implemented by the Women's Health and Action Research Centre in collaboration with the University of Ottawa in Canada and the Edo State Primary Health Care Development Agency in Nigeria.
Nigeria has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world – due in part to the inadequate access to skilled care during pregnancy and delivery. Only two out of every three women receive antenatal care and less than one in three receive skilled care during delivery. Common barriers for accessing care during pregnancy and childbirth include challenges in paying for health services, lack of transportation and distance to health care, perceptions about the negative attitudes of health workers, and lack of permission from husbands and other family members for seeking health care.
This project aims at reducing the high rate of maternal and child mortality in the rural areas of Edo State, by implementing community-led interventions that increase women’s access to skilled care during pregnancy. Interventions for this project focus on the implementation of a community health insurance scheme that eliminates point of service payment for pregnant women, establishing a rapid SMS service that link pregnant women to emergency transport services, strengthening the skills of primary health care providers and the establishment of a community revolving fund promoting better access to medicine.