When labour begins at night, many women in Daneji, a community in Kano State, choose to deliver at home. This is risky. “One wrong step, and a mother could bleed to death,”- registered midwife, Hajara Haruna.
Hajiya Maimuna Hussaini works at the Comprehensive Health Centre in Daneji, a health facility that also serves communities like Tudun Yola, Kabara, Ja’en, and Mandawari. The facility, a Level 1 Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) focal facility, caters for about 50 to 60 pregnant women monthly, yet many do not return for delivery.
Despite the health facility’s capacity to conduct delivery services, access remains limited due to limitations of service provision during the night and the distance from some neighbourhoods. Some women also cite cost and convenience as the reason for not seeking skilled facility delivery, but midwives warn that home births often result in avoidable complications like postpartum haemorrhage (PPH).
The reality of home births in Daneji
Maimuna, a mother of seven from Mandawari, also knows the danger of home delivery. “I gave birth at home once and fainted from bleeding. I was rushed to Daneji and received a blood transfusion. Since then, I have gone to the facility for all deliveries.”
Image credit: Nigeria Health watch
Midwife Hajara once nearly accepted a home delivery. “It was raining, and they brought a woman to my house for delivery. As I began taking her medical history, the woman said she often bleeds after birth. That is Postpartum haemorrhage. I referred her to the Primary Health Care. She delivered there and needed a transfusion just as I feared.”
According to Dr Abubakar Labaran Yusuf, Kano State Health Commissioner, in November 2024, “Many women avoid antenatal care and only come during complicated labour. Over 70% still deliver at home.”
Karematu Ismail, antenatal care lead, highlighted another concern. She noted that “a woman, unaware she was pregnant, bought drugs from a patent medicine vendor and started bleeding. She would have been properly diagnosed and treated if she had initially come to the PHC facility. With better sensitisation, we could prevent such cases”
Image credit: Nigeria Health Watch
Some issues with Daneji PHC
Despite being a BHCPF facility, Daneji PHC does not operate 24 hours a day. Ahmed Ismail Shehu, a community member, stressed that, “women in labour at night must find other options. That delay can cost lives.”
The lack of round-the-clock service undermines trust and limits the impact of health investments. The second pillar of the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Plan (2023–2026) prioritises equitable, efficient health services. For Daneji, making the PHC fully functional around the clock and increasing community awareness aligns directly with this agenda’s second pillar.
Image credit: Nigeria Health Watch
The people of Daneji community are hereby calling on the government and the relevant stakeholders to:
- Expand and recruit more staff at the facility to provide round-the-clock services
- Scale-up sensitisation campaigns to discourage risky home births.
“Women think home delivery is cheaper,” Hajara reflected. “But when things go wrong, they pay with more than just money sometimes, they pay with their lives.”