Mr Haruna Agwoi, the Coordinator, Primary Healthcare Centre of Kuje Area Council, FCT, has advised pregnant women in the area to avail themselves of regular antenatal care for the prevention of maternal deaths.
Agwoi gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, shortly after a sensitisation workshop on the importance of antenatal care for pregnant women in the area.
He said Primary Health Care (PHC) was designed to provide universal access to skilled pregnancy care for the prevention of maternal deaths, especially in rural communities.
According to him, antenatal care is an umbrella term used to describe medical care and procedures that are carried out for the pregnant women until delivery.
“Antenatal care is advocated as the cornerstone for reducing children’s deaths and improving maternal health for pregnant women.
“The care includes various screening tests, diagnostic procedures, prophylactic treatments, some of which are done routinely.
“It is aimed at detecting the already existing problems that can develop during pregnancy, affecting the pregnant woman and her unborn child.
“It is the healthcare that is rendered to the pregnant women throughout pregnancy until the child’s birth.
“Others are provided to the women based on identified problems and risk factors,” he said.
Agwoi also called for adequate sensitisation of antenatal care among pregnant women, saying that ‘very little is known of the use of PHC in rural areas’.
Besides, he revealed that the workshop was to sensitise and identify factors that lead pregnant women to use or not use existing primary health care facilities for antenatal and delivery care. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)