Maternal, Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response goes digital in Lagos

L – R: Adenike Badiora, Lagos State Coordinator, MamaYe; Dr Saidat Okaga, Reproductive Health Coordinator, Lagos State; and Mrs O. Orukotan RH Officer, LSMoH.

Twenty-three public secondary health facilities, and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital have  commenced electronic auditing of maternal and perinatal deaths to improve survival of the usually vulnerable groups.

The initiative was flagged off with the distribution of electronic tablets to the heads of the 23 facilities at a ceremony on 25 April 2017. The tablets, which were procured by MamaYe-Evidence for Action (E4A), a maternal and neonatal health support programme funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, were configured and supplied by Instrat Gobal Health Solutions of the United States.

The distribution was overseen by Dr Folasade Oludara, Director of Family Health and Nutrition in the Lagos State Ministry of Health, who represented the Health Commissioner, Dr. Jide Idris, at the ceremony. Lagos State Coordinator of MamaYe-E4A, Adenike Badiora, represented the Country Director, Dr Tunde Segun.

The use of the tablets concludes the transition from paper-based Maternal Death Review (MDR) to Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR) and digitisation of the scheme, which started a year ago.

The process commenced in April 2016 when MamaYe-E4A and Lagos State Ministry of Health together organised a training programme for relevant health personnel. The training was anchored by a team of four consultants led by a renowned obstetrician/gynaecologist, Prof. Oladapo Shittu of Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria.

“The use of these tablets for data capture and submission will definitely provide real time information on MPDSR in Lagos State, improve decision making processes, and ultimately increase the survival of pregnant women and newborn children,” said Dr Jide Idris.

“This great initiative of digitizing our MPDSR process is an opportunity we are going to maximize to improve the survival of pregnant women and our babies in Lagos State. We greatly appreciate MamaYe-E4A for supporting it,”said Dr Jemilade Longe, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Health Service Commission.

L – R: Dr Kaka, Head of O&G, Randle GH; Dr Folasade Oludara, Director, Family Health and Nutrition, LSMOH; Dr Saidat Okaga, Reproductive Health Coordinator, Lagos State; and Adenike Badiora, Lagos State Coordinator, MamaYe.

The heads of the beneficiary institutions expressed similar feelings. In particular, they said the scheme would improve record keeping because it eliminates the cumbersome paper-based system, which is a disincentive to record keeping.

Admonishing the chief medical directors to ensure that the ground breaking MPDSR scheme in Lagos State is a success that other states can emulate,E4A Country Director, Dr Tunde Segun said, “The process continues; there will be documentation; and lessons will be learnt to improve on the process.”

The adoption of MPDSR to replace MDR in Lagos State followed the adoption of the scheme by the Government of Nigeria in March 2016. MPDSR adds perinatal death audits and provides additional public health benefits of quality of care improvements and real-time data capture on the characteristics of both categories of deaths.

The facilities implementing MPDSR that received one electronic tablet each are Alimosho General Hospital, Lagos Island Maternity Hospital, Badagry General Hospital, Randle Gbaja General Hospital, Harvey Road Health Centre, Shomolu General Hospital, Ifako-Ijaiye General Hospital, Ajeromi General Hospital, and Orile-Agege General Hospital.

Others are Agbowa General Hospital, Apapa General Hospital, Ijede General Hospital, Ketu-Ejirin General Hospital, Ikorodu General Hospital, Isolo General Hospital, Gbagada General Hospital, Amuwo-Odofin General Hospital, Epe General Hospital, Ibeju-Lekki General Hospital, Massey Street Children’s Hospital, Mushin General Hospital, Onikan Health Centre, and Lagos State University Teaching Hospital.