In the UK, home births are the fashionable thing to do. The propaganda tells women they should experience the birthing process without nasty little interventionalist doctors and midwives, in spite of the fact it takes very experienced midwives off of the ward and down winding, isolated country roads, to the front rooms of some times quite high risk women who have decided the 'natural' birthing option.
That said many ladies opt for a home birth after they have experienced labour once or twice, it is usually quite quick and they have been judged by an experienced consultant as low-risk by looking at age , family history, co-morbidities etc. Other ladies have had pretty bad experiences in hospital and have since developed an aversion to them. This is also very understandable.
This is not to say that women should not have a choice over how and where they give birth. I would hate to insinuate that. But in my experience the NHS is often too understaffed to provide that personal one2one service that a home birth requires without posing a risk to the ladies birthing on the ward. Furthermore, if complications arise at the home birth, it becomes a horrible nightmare. The worst kind of nightmare......or so I thought, pre-Nigeria.
Managing obstetric emergencies is going to be a large part the work of the Flying Doctors. This is why every doctor that works with the service must hold a full MOET qualification or it's equivalent.
The 'nightmare' situation I described in the UK that occurs when home births go wrong, pails in conparision to what we face in Nigeria. Despite having some of Africa's most skilled obsteric surgeons and midwifes, we are faced with a lack of beds and equipment.
In Nigeria 59,000 women die during or soon after childbirth every year. This maternal mortality rate is the second highest in the entire world! The country is home to 2 percent of the global population, but 10 percent of all maternal deaths take place here.
The task before Flying Doctors is to try and reduce this number by providing rapid, cost-effective transport to the RIGHT facility for these critically ill ladies who develop complications during childbirth.
The homebirth nightmare I described in the first few paragraphs experienced when I worked in the UK is a very different kind of beast to the one we experience in Nigeria. I dare say, it's like comparing a squeaky mouse to a howling werewolf complete with a full set of fangs.
The true solution to the problem can only come from a joint effort from not-for-profit organisations like the Flying Doctors, government agencies, doctors/midwives and hospitals with international support.
This is an issue that our team at the Flying Doctor continues to help tackle and we remain hopeful and optimistic that the our shocking maternals mortality statistics are set to improve in the near future.
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