No abstract

Introduction: Verbal autopsy is a method of finding out the medical causes of death and ascertaining the personal, family or community factors that may have contributed to the death in women who died outside of a medical facility. Objective: To determine the avoidable factors contributing to maternal deaths at the communities with Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) facilities in Northern Nigeria using verbal autopsy. Methodology: This was a 6 month confidential enquiry of all reported maternal deaths at the MSS facilities and the host communities in Northern Nigeria from 1 st July, 2011 to 31 st December, 2011 using verbal autopsy tools. Results: One or more avoidable factors were identified in 89% of the 141 maternal deaths. Socio cultural factors are the commonest avoidable cause of maternal mortality. TBAs, inadequate lifesaving skills, delay in referral and poor patient monitoring are the commonest avoidable factors seen in the health workers. Lack of transportation is a cross cutting avoidable factor contributing to all levels of delay in women with obstetric complications. Non availability of signal functions for a basic emergency obstetric care facility is responsible for 61% of administrative avoidable factors. Most (70%) maternal deaths occur postpartum. Most deliveries (56%) in these women were at home but most (52%) of them died at the health facility. TBAs conducted 50% of the deliveries. Out of the 73 that were alive at presentation in the health facility only 20(27%) were admitted in stable condition. Conclusion: Addressing preventable maternal mortality is key to achieving the SDG goal for Nigeria.

Introduction. Zika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy can result in severe outcomes for both the pregnant woman and the developing fetus. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Zika virus infection among pregnant women who sought healthcare services at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital. Materials and methods. Serum samples were collected and analyzed using Enzyme Linked Immunoassay and RT-qPCR methods, while a structured questionnaire was used to gather relevant information about the participants. Results. The results showed that 53 out of the 180 pregnant women tested positive for Anti-Zika IgM antibodies, which represents a 29.4% prevalence rate. Subsequent RT-qPCR analysis found that only 6 out of the 53 positive samples contained Zika virus RNA. Fever and headache were the most commonly reported symptoms related to the infection. Conclusion. These findings indicate a potential outbreak of Zika fever in Northern Nigeria emphasizing the importance for pregnant women to take precautions to avoid getting infected.