By our reporter
The newly appointed consultant to Engender Health, Washington, USA, Dr Henry Uro-Chukwu, has vowed to use the appointment to sustain the fight against maternal mortality in developing countries.
Uro-Chukwu, an Ebonyi indigene made the pledge in an interview over his new appointment.
The Public Health physician and presently a Director at the National Obstetrics Fistula Centre, Abakaliki said that he will work towards checking factors which lead to maternal injuries and deaths.
“Engender health is a leading global women organization on sexual and reproductive health and coordinates the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) reproductive health programmes in African and Asian countries.
“I will be working with accredited organisations to develop ways of reducing maternal mortality and morbidity by eliminating delays in obstetric care in developing countries.
He said maternal mortality and morbidity have serous, negative impact on the community, state and nation and multi-national bodies support such fight to underscore the enormity of such impact.
“We try to check such delays which include: women seeking permission from their husbands in maternal issues, health workers’ delay at points of birth, inadequate health facilities, transportation challenges among other socio-cultural factors.
“It is pertinent to note that no government can sustain the cost of repairs arising from maternal problems because when one is repaired, thousands wait to be repaired.
Urochukwu said that he will seek to plug all leakages despite the fact that health issues in developing countries are complex.
“Expert opinions on health issues are not always sought as we always advise that when the six pillars of health are not interlinked, there are always problems.
“We have to re-design our health system to give it an indigenous approach and suit our peculiar environment.
“A teaching hospital abroad for instance, does not have more than 10 permanent staff as other workers are engaged when the need arises through a health agency.
Urochukwu, a university of Aberdeen, Scotland graduate served as a temporary adviser to the World Health Organisation (WHO) on knowledge management and research uptake on tropical diseases.
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