NORWEGIAN designers created the devices with the aim of reducing the number of newborn babies and mothers that die just after giving birth. The Natalie Collection’ includes a novel ‘birthing simulator’ that can be used with fake blood to prepare midwives for post birth bleeding. The Helping Babies Breathe programme, which uses the contraptions in Tanzania, showed a 47 per cent reduction in newborn death due to asphyxia.
Birth asphyxia happens when a baby’s brain and other organs do not get enough oxygen before, during or right after birth. They might look like props from a sci-fi film, but this strange collection of objects is actually a hands-on training kit for midwives working in developing countries.
A Norwegian company came up with a trio of affordable products aimed at helping to save lives in countries where preventable birth-related deaths is greatest as many midwives do not access to education or training.
Meanwhile, Nigeria has recorded 40 per cent reduction in under-five mortality in four years from 157 per 1000 live births in 2008 to 94 per 1000 live births in 2012; and 35.8 per cent reduction maternal deaths from 545 per 100,000 live births in 2008 to 350 per 100,000 live births in 2012.
Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, at the opening ceremony of the 56th National Council on Health (NCH 56) held last week at the Civic Centre, Lagos, said the federal government through the federal ministry of health (FMOH) has concluded plans to take herbal medicine to medical schools; and set October 1, 2013 deadline for the phase out of old Yellow fever cards.
Chukwu also listed five steps that must be implemented to the letter to ensure accessible and affordable care for all Nigerians by 2015.
He said that five critical success factors that would transform health care delivery in Nigeria included: the provision of adequate human resources for health and the even distribution of same, the institutionalization of universal health coverage and especially universal and compulsory health insurance, the greater involvement and participation of the private sector in the health sector.
The minister also called for increased public spending on health; local production of affordable essential medicines and commodities; and the institutionalization of accountability in all facets of health care delivery.
The theme of the NCH 56 is “Health Sector: Now and beyond 2015” with sub themes- “Public Health Emergencies” and “Mutual Accountability for Results.”
‘The Natalie Collection’ comprises a birthing simulator, suction device and newborn simulator to provide practical training in a bid to help reduce the number of newborn babies and mothers that die just after giving birth - two of the United Nation (UN’s) Millennium Development Goals.
The concept, which combines industrial design and education, was dreamed up by Laerdal Global Health in response to the shocking statistic that 3,000 newborn babies die from birth asphyxia along with 1,000 birthing mothers every day.
The company claims that The Natalie Collection is a portable and low-cost way of training skilled professionals.
The other-worldly-looking ‘Mama Natalie Birthing Simulator’ is a wearable contraption that that is meant to simulate a woman’s womb, but in a slightly abstract and inoffensive way.
The simple design only focuses on the most important features without realistic aesthetic distractions.
However, it can be used with fake blood to prepare and train midwives for post birth bleeding, which is a leading cause of maternal deaths.
Less strangely, a penguin-shaped suction device called the NeoNatalie Suction, is designed to train midwives to access babies’ nostrils effectively but safely to help newborns with breathing difficulties.
The device is easily disinfected and transparent so that professionals can inspect the suctioned material.
The ‘NeoNatalie Newborn Simulator’ a mannequin designed to focus a user’s attention on the important aspects of a baby’s body to provide realism only where it is important.
Details such as weight, head articulation, umbilical pulse, as well as the babies’ breath and heartbeat have been simulated as closely as possible, making the model similar to handling a real baby.
The devices, which combines industrial design and education, were dreamed up by Laerdal Global Health in response to the shocking statistic that 3,000 newborn babies die from birth asphyxia along with 1,000 birthing mothers every day.
A training programme with charity Helping Babies Breathe, which uses the NeoNatalie collection in Tanzania, has shown a 47 per cent reduction in newborn death due to asphyxia.
Katinka Von Der Lippe who is involved in the project, said: “The Natalie Collection is a low-cost, practical, hands-on training kit for the most important and critical moment in life - when a baby is being born.”
She said that it was a good example of how clever design could improve living conditions and its simple approach invites participation and teamwork.
The company claimed the product encouraged the learning process to become playful enabling midwives and birth assistants to role-play.
“Since the Natalie Collection is based on practical involvement, language barriers have little impact on the learning process,” she added.
Chukwu said: “We are going to take herbal medicine to medical schools so that we can say we have integrated herbal medicine. Nigeria is the home of herbal medicine yet we import herbal medicine. We want to begin to export herbal medicine. A Committee has been set up on introduction of herbal medicine as a course in the medical school and another committee on the development of herbal remedies.
“According to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the country has recorded improvement in some of the health indices. Under- maternal deaths five mortality is 94/1000 live births down from 157/1000 live births and maternal mortality ratio has reduced from 545/100.000 in 2008 to 350/100,000 live births in 2012.
“You will recall that the Pre-56th NCH in Abuja, I announced the production of new security featured International Certificate of Vaccination. I am happy to inform you that the vaccines and the new Yellow Cards are in all Port Health Service Offices nationwide. The old cards will cease to be valid on October 1, 2013. Let me reiterate that the cards are meant for travelers who have received the vaccines and I urge members of the Council to give it the widest publicity in the states.
“Looking forward, we need to evaluate some our actions in health with a focus on global commitments and national commitments that will translate into better health care delivery in our country.”
The minister said the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) continues to be one global commitment that serves as a yard stick for progress in the health sector and the ministry is now looking at the MDGs Acceleration Framework (MAF), which offers a new and urgent way to rise to the challenge of accelerating progress with the MDGs in Nigeria, drawing attention to prioritized interventions and identifying and removing bottlenecks that stand in the way of implementing these interventions. “Overall, we are looking at improving the health care delivery in our country in order to meet the MDGs by 2015 and sustain the gains made, post 2015,” he said.
Chukwu said of importance currently and in the post 2015 development era is the need to ensure that the Nigerian health system at all levels is strengthened to respond to public health emergencies adequately and in a timely manner. He said public health emergencies in Nigeria had prior to 2010 been limited to those occasioned by floods and by extreme harsh weather and/or poor environment but a new dimension of bomb blast has been added to the list since 2010.
Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, said: “For me, healthcare is very critical because one primary responsibility of our government is to protect life and property, that is security. Paying attention to healthcare is paying attention to security.
“How do we provide universal coverage for health? We have to do what other societies have done, to enable our people contribute and benefit from health insurance fund. There are about 3,500 health facilities in Lagos including laboratories and hospitals. Not less 1,000 is run by the private sector. But they are not running at full capacity because people cannot pay for them.
“Free health care is here to stay but how many people can we reach and what happens to the people between the time they get sick and when we run our free medical outreaches?
“Can we use health insurance to wake up the idling private facilities? How do we create the critical linkage to enable all Nigerians have access to healthcare? Health insurance is the way forward. Private hospitals are not running at full capacity because people cannot access their services. Can we devise an insurance scheme that can address this?
“We are already running pilot scheme of health insurance in Lagos. What we see is that the poor can pay if it is reasonably priced.
“We will continue free health care but it will not provide for everybody who needs complex and emergency intervention.”
ABUJA: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
PORTHARCOURT: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
LAGOS: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
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