The World Health Organisation (WHO), in partnership with Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), has established a national database to collate and monitor successes and death rate of maternal and perinatal cases in Nigerian health sector.
WHO Nigeria made this known in a statement posted on the WHO Regional Office for Africa website.
It noted that “the Nigeria Maternal and Perinatal Database for Quality, Equity, and Dignity (MPD-4-QED) is a standardised electronic platform for the collection, collation, and audits of routine maternal and perinatal data in tertiary level facilities nationwide.’’
The statement quoted the Director of Family Health, FMOH, Dr Adebimpe Adebiyi, as saying during the launch of the MPD-4-QED in Abuja in October 2019, that “it is an efficient and effective data management system.”
Adebiyi also said it was a programme that would provide accurate and timely information and promote the identification and understanding of the immediate and remote causes of maternal and perinatal deaths.
The statement noted that Dr Bosede Ezekwe of WHO Nigeria, said that the programme had helped to create an accountable platform where the causes of maternal and perinatal deaths could be recorded and monitored for administrative improvement.
She explained that MPD-4-QED Programme is supported by funding from MSD through MSD for Mothers (MSD for Mothers is an initiative of Merck & Co Inc, Kenilworth, NJ, USA), and the implementation is ongoing in 54 tertiary health facilities represented in all states across the country.
The programme will determine where efforts are needed for quality emergency obstetric and newborn care through series of interventions in health facilities.
Programme coordination is provided by Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, and intended to help address the non-availability and non-uniformity of maternal and neonatal health information in health facilities.
Dr Ezekwe also said that “the programme seeks to ensure that maternal and perinatal data on birth events and audits are collected routinely in a standardise manner nationwide, which will be useful in monitoring clinical care performance and quality improvement.
“Data collection commenced on Sept. 1, 2019 and we aim to achieve about 80,000 enrolments by Aug. 31, 2020.
“The aim is to contribute to achieving the country’s Quality of Care for Maternal and Neonatal Health target of 50 per cent reduction in stillbirths, maternal and neonatal mortality over five years (2017 – 2022)”, she added.
Explaining how the programme works, Ezekwe said medical record officers input into the digital platform daily, the data of obstetric and early neonatal events and outcomes, including deaths as they occur in health facilities.
She then shared some of the findings from the data gathered so far, saying the common causes of maternal death were pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, postpartum haemorrhage and puerperal sepsis.
She added that birth asphyxia, maternal complications, placental complications and complications of labour and delivery were common clinical conditions associated with perinatal mortality.
Ezekwe, however, said that “for the first time, Nigeria has a system that routinely collects data on pregnancy, childbirth, and immediate postnatal period that is standardised across most tertiary facilities and meets the information requirements for measuring the QED indicators.
“The MPD-4-QED programme has been demonstrated to be useful in providing healthcare providers with appropriate and timely information to monitor clinical care performance and inform quality improvement efforts in Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G), and Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) of participating health facilities.
“Going forward, WHO will continue to support data collection and management of the MPD-4-QED platform and explore how factors affecting the provision of quality care in these facilities can be addressed to ensure implementation of quality healthcare practices,’’ Ezekwe said.
The statement recalled that two Medical Records Officers from Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Jalingo and University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital Ondo applauded WHO for coming up with the initiative as they shared their experiences on the programme at a recent virtual review meeting.
Mr Muhammed Jibo OF FMC Jalingo) opined that the programme had opened a communication channel between doctors and medical record officers.
Dr George Eleje, Obstetrician and Gynaecologist from Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, said that the programme had facilitated shared understanding of terminologies used in maternal and neonatal care and improved documentation in the facility.
He said that “terminologies used in deliveries had been very clear to medical record officers and documentation in hospitals had improved.” (NAN)
