DELSU Specialist, Prof. Omo-Aghoja, Advocates Better Medical Infrastructure To Arrest Maternal Mortality

By Ben Nwanne

A Specialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Delta State University Abraka, Professor Lawrence Omo-Aghoja, has advocated the strengthening of existing health infrastructure at all levels of health care delivery and provision of new ones, as well as the enunciation of policies and programmes, to tackle the current unacceptably high level of poor outcomes of maternal health by all tiers of government.

He was speaking on Thursday, January 26, 2023 at the 96th in the series of Inaugural Lectures of the University on the topic ‘:When Getting them to fulfill the Divine Injunctions – Be fruitful and multiply as well as None shall be Barren in the Land is not Enough.”

According to him, ‘’the health care facilities must be accessible and affordable to the populace and policies that would deliberately give the poor access to health care must be argued for and put in place by government. Ready examples are the free maternal and free under-5 health care policy of the Delta State Government as applicable in some other states. And very recently, the contributory health scheme of the Delta State Government’’.

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Relying on decades of hands of experience in the hospital and deploying credible data, the immediate past Provost of the College of Medicine, painted a sad picture of what women go through in an effort to achieve the divine mandate of reproducing mankind through the entire gamut of pregnancy, child birth and post natal commitment.

Professor Omo-Aghoja who has sub specialization in infertility and reproductive endocrinology (reproductive medicine) observed that women suffered a great deal either by way of confronting the challenges of infertility or countering the ‘’tides and turbulence of human reproduction following pregnancy, child birth and the later years after procreation as typified by our horrendous and abysmally poor reproductive health indices’’.

As he put it, ‘’infertility challenges, the physiology of pregnancy and child birth to maternal conditions that lead to maternal disability and death in Nigeria are the same as in most other parts of the world. However, it is the adverse 8intermediating factors of culture, religion and poverty under which women grow up and become pregnant that create the opportunity for the occurrence and persistence of these unfortunate deaths and disabilities in this country’’.

He recalled the ICPD Conference of 1994 where women health issues were adopted and pronounced as issues that should be treated as fundamental human rights and be justiciable and urged governments to speedily address those issues by providing adequate funding in line with the global recommendations and best practices with a view to optimizing the reproductive health outcomes of women. Professor Omo-Aghoja, a product of the University of Benin College of Medicine, directed his considerable experience and knowledge to the issue of infertility in Nigeria which has caused misery in many marriages and led to the dissolution of many also.

He is a consultant and editor of professional medical journals such as African Journal of Tropical Medicine and Biomedical Research Journal of Reproduction and Sexual Health, the official publication of the Delta State Reproductive Health Initiative and Research Centre where he also serves as Executive Director. Professor Omo-Aghoja, a prolific researcher and scholar, with over 80 publications to his credit, observed that while infertility was not a new phenomenon citing Biblical cases of Sarah, Rebecca and others, there was a genetic basis of infertility while there are ‘’unexplained’’ causes.

According to the expert, it is estimated that about 10-20% of couples have difficulties in conceiving successfully, noting that the ‘’prevalence of infertility is particularly high in sub-saharan Africa, varying from 20-40% in some parts of West Africa where it constitutes a significant portion of work load of the gynecologists, accounting for 80% of all consultations’’.

The first rate medical practitioner noted that male fertility had been poorly researched, especially in Africa where it is believed, even though erroneously, that men do not have problems with infertility, hence women bear the blame and burden of infertility in marriages.

According to Professor Omg-Aghoja, male infertility is high, insisting that it amounts to over 50%, but the male supremacist disposition of Africa tends to consign this crucial fact to the sidelines.

In his words, ‘’when viewed from the etiological perspective, infertility may be due to male factor, female factor, a combination of the male and female factors or unexplained in which no known cause or etiology can be identified after performing all the regular investigations for infertility’’.

Giving more insight into the problem of infertility, the award-wining doctor noted that in one of his researches, ‘’the results showed infertile men to be significantly more likely than fertile men to report having experienced penile discharge, painful micturiation and general ulcers. Infertile men were less likely to seek treatment for these symptoms and to seek treatment with informal sector providers than formal sector providers in private, district and referral hospitals.

’’Multivariate analysis showed that male infertility was also significantly associated with bacteria in semen cultures, self-reporting of previous use of traditional medication and moderate to heavy alcohol intake. By contrast, infertility was not significantly associated with smoking and occupational types’’.

Speaking at the occasion, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andy Egwunyenga commended the Inaugural Lecturer for his quality presentation, adding that Professor Omo-Aghoja was one of the best scholars in the University.

The Vice-Chancellor who has provided an enlightened and committed leadership in the past three years, described the Inaugural Lecturer as ‘’warm and robust’’.

While decorating him with the Distinguished University Honorary Medal, the top University Administrator urged him and other senior academics to take more seriously the mentorship of junior colleagues.