By Chima Azubuike
Stakeholders in the health sector have called for the full implementation of the Safe Termination of Pregnancy guidelines in Gombe State, as part of efforts to reduce the alarming rate of maternal deaths caused by unsafe abortions.
Periscope Nigeria reports that STOP guidelines are a set of medical protocols that guide healthcare professionals on safe and legal abortion in Nigeria.
Speaking on Thursday, Senior Programme Officer, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre, Sheila Ibrahim-Audu, during a high-level roundtable meeting with policymakers on the progress of Sexual Reproductive Health Rights called for concerted efforts.
The one-day meeting was organised by the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), with funding support from the Canadian Government and the Centre for Reproductive Rights.
Ibrahim-Audu explained that the guideline was introduced in 2021 after the state examined the rising cases of deaths linked to unsafe pregnancy terminations.
“Based on statistics, more women are dying every day as a result of unsafe termination of pregnancies in Gombe State. That was why the guideline came on board for the safe termination of pregnancies,” She said.
Speaking further she added, “We call for full implementation because it’s one thing to have it and another to put it to use. We are looking at strengthening the ministries, especially health, and with increased awareness creation, the rate of women dying from unsafe pregnancy will be drastically reduced.”
She added that apart from Gombe, Jigawa, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Osun, and Ogun states had adopted similar guidelines, while efforts were ongoing to reinstate the STOP policy in Lagos, which was suspended last year.
Also speaking, Dr Sagir Muhammad, Gombe State Coordinator of the Society for Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria, stressed the importance of the guideline in saving lives.
“The STOP guideline was adopted in the state on 26th August 2021 to provide services for women with certain medical conditions that would warrant safe termination of their pregnancy. Since then, we have operationalised it and are guided by the document whenever there is a patient with those conditions—either life-threatening or where the baby has a defect incompatible with life. However, so much still needs to be done, such as training and retraining, because people should be aware that there is a legal framework for safe termination of pregnancy,” Muhammad explained.
On his part, Speaker of the Gombe State House of Assembly, Abubakar Luggerewo, noted that the legislature had made budgetary provisions to strengthen healthcare delivery but admitted gaps in implementation.
“The area we need to come in is implementation. It’s observed that there is weak implementation in some thematic areas. If we are talking about healthcare in general, Gombe State is doing well compared to our sister states, but we are going to see how we can stimulate our Ministries, Departments, and Agencies to do more,” he assured.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Asma’u Ignanus, represented by the ministry’s Director of Administration and Finance, Fatima Abubakar, reiterated the government’s commitment to promoting women’s health and rights.
“Sexual Reproductive Health Rights are critical in our mandate. Our priority focuses on ensuring quality healthcare services for women,” she said.
In her remarks, Farida Dunama, Programme Officer of Saif Advocacy Foundation, assured that civil society organisations were committed to engaging community stakeholders to reduce stigma around the issue.
“Our women are dying and it’s a concern for the state; it’s a burden for us because of the high mortality rate. We have taken the mandate to support awareness creation among religious and traditional leaders, adolescents, youths, and women, to ensure they understand the issues and reduce stigma around women who access safe abortion services,” Dunama stated.
