4,000 A’Ibom TBAs Endorse Tinubu, Akpabio, Umo Eno
…Demand Stronger Hospital Partnership To Reduce Maternal Deaths
About 4,000 Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) in Akwa Ibom State have endorsed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Governor Umo Eno, as preferred candidates for the 2027 general elections.
The endorsement was made at a one-day maternal health summit organised by the Association of Practicing Traditional Birth Attendants (APTBA) in Uyo at the weekend, where the group also pushed for stronger collaboration between traditional birth attendants and the formal healthcare system.
The endorsement was led by the Akwa Ibom State APC Youth Leader, Dr Clement Awak Essien, as the TBAs used the gathering to combine their political position with a call for greater attention to maternal and newborn health across the state.
President-General of APTBA, Deaconess Sarah Effiong Akpan, said the central concern of the summit was how to improve the safety of childbirth through continuous training, early detection of complications, community health education and prompt referral of high-risk cases.
Akpan urged government and development partners to support sustained capacity building for TBAs and establish functional referral channels connecting them with Primary Healthcare Centres, nurses, midwives, doctors and hospitals.
She said the recommendations from the summit should not end as policy proposals, but should be converted into practical programmes capable of improving childbirth outcomes and reducing preventable maternal and newborn deaths.
The APTBA president also rejected allegations linking TBAs in the state with child theft and trafficking, insisting that their primary concern was assisting mothers and babies in communities where they operate. She, however, advocated proper training, monitoring and integration with the formal health system to ensure that practitioners recognise cases beyond their competence and refer them promptly.
The summit, themed “Reducing Maternal Mortality Through Traditional Birth Attendance,” attracted TBAs, government representatives, healthcare professionals, organised labour, community leaders and civil society organisations.
Contributors to the summit called for regular training and retraining of TBAs in safe delivery practices, basic maternal and newborn care, infection prevention and the recognition of pregnancy-related danger signs. They stressed that practitioners must understand their limitations and avoid delays in referring complicated cases.
Chairman of the occasion and Convener of the Akwa Ibom Human Rights Community (AKHRC), Barrister Clifford Thomas, described maternal mortality as a collective community challenge requiring coordinated action by government, healthcare professionals, TBAs, traditional institutions, civil society organisations and communities.
Thomas said stronger cooperation among the various actors in maternal healthcare delivery would produce better results than allowing the different components of the system to operate independently.
Also speaking, Chairman of the Governing Council of Ibom College of Natural Medicine, Prof. Sam Akpan, advocated responsible healthcare practices and improved understanding between natural medicine practitioners and orthodox healthcare professionals.
Akpan maintained that traditional and natural medicine interventions should be practised responsibly and should not prevent patients from obtaining professional medical care when their conditions require it.
Representatives of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Labour and Manpower Planning and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) participated in discussions on community welfare, social development and institutional collaboration in addressing challenges affecting vulnerable groups.
The Akwa Ibom State Health Insurance Agency (AKSHIA) highlighted the need to expand health insurance coverage to vulnerable members of the population, while the General Secretary of SURAHEP emphasised the contribution of community-based institutions and development initiatives to improved social outcomes.
A key recommendation was the creation of stronger referral relationships between TBAs and Primary Healthcare Centres, nurses, midwives, doctors and hospitals. Participants also advocated a coordinated framework for the registration, training, retraining, monitoring and referral of TBAs.
They argued that properly trained and supervised TBAs could contribute to health education, encourage antenatal care and facilitate early referrals, provided they operate within clearly defined professional boundaries.
