We are delighted to have partnered with Traffina Foundation for Community Health, led by Chinomso Ibe, to release the Zero Mothers Die App translated and localized in Pidgin language for communities in Nigeria and throughout Africa! To celebrate this, please find below a special guest post by Chinomso Ibe.
Pidgin language is a simplified way of communication among different groups that do not have a language in common in Nigeria etc.
Nigeria as country has more than 200 million population and has 525 different local languages . Pidgin is one means of communication that brings the poor/rich educated and uneducated together, it brings every tribe and religion in Nigeria as one because everyone understands. I would say pidgin has a way of creating an atmosphere of unity.
Pidgin language is also used in different parts of West African countries and also unites most Africans together to communicate easily and faster despite native language barrier.
Most people who did not have access to Education are mostly left behind to communicate with others, because most information are not put in Pidgin . Majority who depends on pidgin language would demand that pidgin should always be considered when passing out day to day information or newsletters in other to be fully carried along in their day to day lives.
Most families in rural communities or hard to reach areas in Nigeria, depends on pidgin to be able to communicate with health professionals just to be able to talk about their health conditions and also to be able to understand instructions from health care workers.
Zero Mothers Die App latest addition / translation to Pidgin is a huge development and a big win for Nigerian communities and Africans at large. The joy regarding this latest development knows no bound .
Pregnancy and childbirth remain a continuous events in the lives of women and their families, lack of communication and understanding between health workers and women of child bearing age contributes to the challenges that points towards the high maternal and child mortality and morbidity rate in Nigeria / Africa.
Zero Mothers Die has broken the barriers that limits poor understanding to issues affecting women during pregnancy and childbirth. Most times women go to Ante-Natal and would not understand the teachings and would not be able to ask questions because they are ashamed to be classified uneducated, they end up going home more confused than they came. In situations like this, women starts going from house to house asking other women about their past pregnancies, trying to compare that with their situation and forgetting that each pregnancy is different. They carry their pregnancy with the information of what another woman told them, and this points to the beginning of calamity like getting involved in harmful cultural practices like using cow dung to dry new born umbilical cords, rejection of colostrum, drinking placenta water to initiate weight loss after childbirth etc.
But then, here comes the good news for our women. Women can read or listen to any information at any stage of their pregnancy and post-partum period without falling a victim of false information by neighbors.
Our women are so excited to have good understanding on how their child develops in the womb, signs of labor, preparation for childbirth, importance of breast feeding, prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/AID, care of the newborn, family planning and many more. Our Health workers too are happy to be fully involved into eHealth using ZMD App.
This is a breakthrough for Maternal and child health In Nigeria/Africa.
Most important this will improve male involvement in Maternal Health, as we are struggling to have husbands /partners join their wives to Ante-natal, the pidgin information will help them to know more about pregnancy /childbirth, thereby getting more involved and supportive.
Traffina Foundation for community health’s goal is the ensure that we get to all hard to reach communities in Nigeria and other African countries with ZMD new Pidgin translation.
