Achieving the Goal of Safe Motherhood Initiative in Nigeria through Community Mobilization and Advocacy in Covid-19 Era

Abstract

The Safe Motherhood Initiative was launched in 1987 at the safe motherhood conference in Nairobi, Kenyan, with the aim of reducing maternal mortality by 50% in 2000. The initiative was among other things committed to strengthen primary health care through adequate community participation and involvement. As a community based health programme, the implementation of the various interventions aimed at achieving the goal of Safe Motherhood Initiative may be significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was therefore imperative to strategically mobilize and advocate appropriately for support from the various stakeholders in the community with a high degree of compliance to all recommended COVID-19 protocols. This scoping review was therefore conducted to identify the strategic framework for community mobilization and advocacy, designed to achieve the goal of Safe Motherhood Initiative in the COVID-19 era. A list of academic databases comprised of Medline, PubMed, and Google Scholar were reviewed to obtain relevant information on Safe Motherhood Initiative, maternal health and mortality, interventions in Safe Motherhood Initiative, community mobilization, concept and procedure for advocacy and framework for advocacy and community mobilization for health actions during COVID-19 pandemic. The review concluded that, effective community mobilization and advocacy is imperative to the achievement of the objectives of the various interventions designed and implemented under the Safe Motherhood Initiative in the community. Several suggestions were made, including health care personnel and other critical stakeholders in the health care delivery system should be trained with skills and strategies that will enable them carry out result-oriented advocacy and community mobilization.