Kwara: Communities where pregnant women prefer herbalists, traditional birth attendants
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Investigation reports that in most communities in Kwara state, pregnant women abandon health centres in preference for herbalists and traditional birth attendants
Kehinde Adebayo speaks boastfully of his traditional medical practice. His pride is rooted in the curious fact that Egosi and Odo-owa families seeking care for their pregnant women prefer him to the community health centres.
“Most times I take three deliveries in a night,” he told our correspondent. “I’ll handle one, my wife and eldest son will handle the two others.”
Adebayo, aged and popularly called Baba Apiri, is described by residents as a “renowned herbalist” who specialises in child delivery.
Handling child delivery without any licence or any formal training in obstetrics, Adebayo does not use hand gloves, he said, not even after attending a health seminar reportedly organised by the Oke-Ero Local Government Area of Kwara state in which Egosi and Odo-owa communities are located.
Justifying non-use of hand gloves, the old herbalist said, “There are times one needs to recite some incantations on the bare palm before touching the pregnant women’s private parts.”
Possible blood contamination
So, in his own way, he exposes himself, the mother and the foetus or baby to risks of possible blood contamination that could have been prevented by hand gloves.
Apart from exposing himself to health risks, he also endangers his life alongside that of the pregnant woman and her baby as hand gloves are meant to prevent contamination of blood or body tissues.
Nevertheless, Adebayo remains popular and well-patronised by residents who describe him as “a renowned herbalist.”
His popularity also grows due to the absence of what could have been a more
But the state of the health centres in Egosi and Odo-owa has not made a hero in the old herbalist alone. There is also a heroine, a woman operating within the premises of Christ Apostolic Church in the town, just within a walking distance of one of the health centres. She is popularly called ‘Mummy’ but her real name is Janet Oyelowo.
Mummy told Reporter she has received training in midwifery. She is also limited in terms of manpower and facilities. She handles child delivery alone, except with the assistance of a friend and all she has got in her pharmaceutical box are anti-malaria drugs.
“When they come for deliveries like that, we test them for malaria parasite and we treat them,” she said. “That’s all.”
But when there are complications, she said her patients would be transferred to the general hospital, some nine kilometres from her house.
“By the Grace of God, we don’t usually have many complications,” she replied in response to a question on the referral statistics.
However, despite the dangerous gaps in the practices of Baba Apiri and mummy, the testimonies from residents of Egosi and Odo-Owa have been positive.
Morenikeji, a pregnant mother, explained how she gave birth to her current two children at Oyelowo’s residence without complications.
“This pregnancy will also be delivered at Mummy’s house,” she said, smiling as she touched her belly
She and other residents spoke of the poor state of the health centres, and trust in Mummy, as reasons for not using them.
State of health centres
During visits to four health centres in Oke-Ero local government, reports from the Community Health Officers (CHO) showed that most of the health centres had not recorded any child delivery for over three months.
Folashade Olokundu at Odo-Owa primary healthcare centre (PHC) pointed at the Church area when asked for the number of deliveries taken in the last three months.
“That’s where the pregnant women in this town visit. They go to the midwife (Mummy) over there.”
It is the same situation at Egosi, where the old herbalist resides. The CHO in-charge of Egosi clinic, Matthew Ajo..
Source Premium Times
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