In a bid to improve on the method used by Traditional Birth
Attendants (TBA) while attending to a pregnant woman at delivery, the Cameroon
Baptist Convention Health Services (CBCHS) resorted to train practitioners
still operating in enclave areas of the North West Region. This new twist of
the CBCHS from their initial stand point to discourage the practice was taken
as a last resort since many pregnant women living in the suburbs have no choice
when at the point of delivery than sort the TBA.
In this light a team of CBCHS officials has swung in to
action with an on the spot training of Traditional Birth Attendants on methods
to minimize transmission of the HIV from Mother to Child in case any pregnant
women at delivery is an undiagnosed carrier. This is only taking place in areas
where health centers are far away from the pregnant women and the means of
transportation is not insight. In the North West this program started in Wanti
health Center in Nkambe Central SubDivision of Donga Mantung Division. The
program extended to Mbawrong and Sabongari in Nwa Subdivision then Siwonkov in
Bui Division and there indications that this program shall be extended to other
areas in the South West Region.
While training the birth attendants the CBCHS team were told
that in as much as some women prefer the TBA for lack of health facility in the
area, some women especially the Fulani women prefer to deliver at home and
attended by a female TBA than go to a Health center and be attended by a male
midwife. This is in line with their Islamic faith that apart from your husband
no other man should see her nakedness even in a state of delivery. With this
situation the trainers advised the TBAs that they should encourage and ensure
that these women to attend antenatal care at Health centers before delivery
most especially to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV. In Sabongari
one of the TBA trainees, Mairo Mfuanda whose has been practicing in the last 20
years led the team on a tour to her traditional delivery clinic. She did some
explanations as to some of the herbs she administers to pregnant women during
and after delivery in case of complications.
Complaining bitterly was the community mobilizing agent and
health coordinator of Siwonkov area, Sakah Peter, who says these traditional
birth attendants have a hard grip on the pregnant women. Hear him, “TBAs
practicing in this area is still a very big problem given that they are still
capturing more pregnant women despite the various campaigns carried out to
discourage the practice. How ever the training of TBAs with instructions to
refer pregnant women to health facilities is yielding fruits but the process to
uncover all the clinics of TBAs is difficult.” He recommended many more
refresher courses for the TBAs. Those trained on the spot were awarded
certificates for receiving the basic knowhow on midwifery.
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