Child-health: Bayelsa gives nod to traditional birth attendants

 The Bayelsa State Government has said that traditional birth attendants remain a vital option for rural women.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Ebiere Adeh, stated this on Tuesday at the opening of a two-day training workshop organised by the ministry for TBAs in the state.

The workshop took place at the main bowl of the Samson Siasia Sport Complex in  Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital.

Over 150 TBAs, drawn from the eight local government areas of the state, are participating in the workshop.

Adeh noted that TBAs had been the main health providers for women during child births in communities in the state.

Adeh stated, “They (TBAs) are useful partners in maternal and ante-natal, as well as child-health programmes, especially in our remote communities where health activities are few and skilled health providers are in short supply.

“TBAs, until they are replaced by sufficient skilled birth attendants, remain an option for rural women in our state.”

Adeh, who advocated the training and re-training of TBAs, however, explained that the objectives of the workshop included enabling them to perform safer delivery and helping them to prevent high-risk women and women with few complications of pregnancy to deliver safely, among others.

In her remarks, Vivian Odiowei, the Special Assistant to the wife of Governor Seriake Dickson, Rachael, described TBAs as “women endowed with wisdom and understanding” to assist pregnant women give birth to their babies safely.

 PUNCH.