Hemorrhage (which in simple terms means bleeding that may be life-threatening), high blood pressure in a pregnant woman, and sepsis (which means the body’s reaction to an infection) have been killing Gambian women during or after childbirth. Among all these, sepsis deaths in childbirth during the postpartum period (time in hospital care after birth) have been increasing in The Gambia from 61% to 85%, according to experts.

We want to make this language as simple as possible for every Gambian to understand. The picture above shows our beautiful sisters that died in childbirth in The Gambia recently. A woman has to give birth in a very clean area to avoid sepsis—the super killer that has been costing us our loved ones.

High blood pressure has to be treated, not just by drugs, but a massive sensitization campaign from Kartong to Koina. All the “Jumbo”, “Adja”, “Maggi”, fats and oils need to be watched. Our Gambian fruits, vegetables, fish, “Morongo,” cassava leaves, Moringa, potato leaves, should be highly encouraged, not by Papa Colley, but the authorities for the smallest country, if not on earth, but mainland Africa.

Please inform families about these. During Jawara’s time, high blood pressure wasn’t rampant—diabetes ditto! Today, more and more Gambians are leaving our African foods for the imported junk. Sodium increases blood pressure and it is found in almost any canned food and many imported foods.

If a woman is already a high blood pressure patient giving birth, her chances of birth complications, including hemorrhage increase. Where are those Gambians that went to med school and are mourning the deaths of our sisters in the above picture as to storm the offices of GRTS, QTV, etc. to offer a free of charge discussion on these health topics?

Nation building isn’t just about forming tons of political parties. It’s also about telling Adama Barrow to stop all per diem allowances for himself, ministers, permanent secretaries, directors, or any gov’t official being paid $300 to $400 a night for doing nothing while our sisters are dying because there is no oxytocin IV.

Nation building is also about telling Fatou Bah-Barrow to stop the show-biz in the streets of Banjul with body guards, sometimes gesturing drivers to stop because “First Lady” is exercising in the streets and traffic needs to wait for her. Whose mother is “Last Lady”?

Nation building is also about telling Adama Barrow to use the D5.8 billion Covid funds and other money pumped into Gambia—the benefit of which we’re yet to see. It’s about telling Barrow we cannot keep spending a fortune on Senegalese forces in The Gambia who have found a new way of life!

It’s also about telling Adama Barrow that the D25 million we are paying to Senelec for bad electricity could be used to clean our hospitals and furnish better medical supplies. It’s about telling our Gambian thinkers that we shouldn’t pay huge money to the Turkish Carpower deal while our sisters are dying like this!

It’s also about telling Dr. Samateh that before our publication forced him to confess dizzying heights of corruption in Barrow’s Gambia, the stolen billions could have been used to build or equip at least one major state-of-art hospital in The Gambia.

It’s also about getting enough hospital supplies instead of spending a fortune on water cannon trucks to keep Barrow in power. Pitocin (Oxytocin) costs only $21 for the 10ml vial. This drug is an injection that can help a very weak woman increase her contraction powers during labor.

Pitocin can also reduce risk of bleeding. Contraction, in simple terms is what pushes the baby out during childbirth. Some Gambian women die because they were very weak to push. I’ve heard of nurses, CNAs, and even janitors help try to sit on the belly of a birthing mother in The Gambia.

Some girls never make it in such near-suffocation amid a hemorrhage or some other comorbidity. Fatou Bah-Barrow could have easily secured a tread-mill and step on it indoors or simply walk around The State House. But our elders speak of, “Konofaa,” meaning “Well-fed,” to refer to some form of insensitivity or impudence.

Fatou Bah-Barrow isn’t hungry. But Gambians are. The money she’s flaunting isn’t hers. It’s tax payers’. I have more respect for that lady toiling in the markets of Serrekunda, Banjul, Brikama, Soma, Bakau, Basse to sell few cups of salt than Fatou Bah-Barrow. Why? Because she’s making it from scratch! No per diem! No free health care! No free 24hr electricity! No paid bodyguards! Yet, she has to burry her daughter young from a maternal mortality!

Photo Credit for First Lady jogging in red with bodyguards: Gambia Talents TV