Tofar Leda: A Kano Community that Travels 30 Kilometres for Maternity Services

Maryam Bawa

According to Medical experts, lack of access to healthcare services is a contributing factor to maternal mortality even before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the pandemic in the picture, lots of women in the rural communities are finding it difficult to gain access to maternal services due to some certain numbers of reasons.

Tofar Leda, is a community of about 30 kilometers away from the city of Kano state in Warawa Local Government Area and one of the major producers of polythene bags in the state.

Nigerian Tracker learns that at the community level Tofar Leda has being able to produce a Chairman for the Local government and prominent political leaders who have contributed a lot to the development of Kano state as a whole.

Since it came into existence more than 80 years ago, this community is saddened with the fact that it lacks a health facility to cater for the wellbeing of expectant mothers.

Mariya Adamu, member of the community

The ward head of Tofar Leda Alhaji Musa Ibrahim said that it is really tough for the members of the community.

“We have been dealing with this problem for years and it is endangering the lives of my people most especially pregnant women. Imagine having to travel a distance of 30 kilometres to give birth” he said.

Tofar Leda, a Town of 100 Years With Neither Chemist Nor Electricity

“The issue is more severe than it sounds” said Mariah Habiba a resident of the community. ” I nearly lost my life during childbirth early this year because of difficulties in getting a means of transportation ,I lost a huge quantity of blood before getting to the hospital after spending about 3hours on the road. It is by God’s grace that I am still alive today”.

Executive  Secretary KSPHMB

Their plights got worst with the heavy weight of the Covid-19 pandemic, as the closest healthcare facility for the women is 10kilometers away from the ward and they have to maneuver their ways through an unadopted road to get there.

“I went through hours of severe pains before a bike was gotten for me to take me to the general hospital because the Primary healthcare in Warawa is nothing to write home about.

They close early and they don’t attend to critical situations. After the stress of getting to the main road from here, I had to wait at the roadside to wait for the bike to get fixed due to the deplorable condition of the road, in labour pain I had to cover my face because people were just staring at me”. Summayya Abba another resident lamented.

Sumayya Abba, another resident

In cases like this, the services of a trained traditional birth attendant mostly ease the situation but in Tofar Leda it is a different case entirely as they only have an untrained traditional birth attendant who is usually sent for after childbirth to cleanse and prepare the baby.

Members of the community said despite their efforts in reaching out to the relevant authorities for years, their story still remains the same as no change has taken effect.

“We took our complaints to the Local government Chairman, they promised to come and do something about it, but it’s been 3years now and nothing has happened” said Alhaji Musa Ibrahim .

Doctor Muktar Gadanya an associate professor at Bayero University Kano and a Consultant Public Health Physician at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital said that a health facility is not supposed to exceed a distance of 5kilometres, as geographical access is a contributing factor to the increasing numbers of maternal and child deaths.

Dr.Mukhtar Gadanya

Attempts to have an audience with the Chairman of the Local Government Area, Hon. Yusuf Abdullahi Danlasan on the issue of Tofar Leda proved abortive.

However, there is still hope for the women of Tofar Leda as the Executive Secretary Kano State Healthcare Management Board, Dr. Tijjani Hussaini said that the board is carrying out a continuous community outreach program to render quality maternal services to expectant mothers and Tofar Leda is not excluded.

Residents of Tofar Leda are hopeful that this time their cries for help is going to bring about developmental changes in the community.

This article is part of Covid-19 Response: Together for Reliable Information project implemented by PAGED Initiative supported by the EU & FreePress Unlimited.