Summary

Program goals

(UNFPA) says, “90% of maternal deaths occur in Nigeria because women still give birth at home/away from home/volatile settings in unsterile environments”. Women still patronize under-equipped hospitals/clinics without supplies due to high cost of imported birth delivery kit caused by Forex scarcity/High exchange rate due to recession. Medpax is designed to eliminate maternal deaths in poor settings because it’s affordable/disposable/locally made & saves lives.

Medpax ensures that every woman has a safe/clean/hygienic delivery irrespective of where she delivers. A Medpax kit saves an average of 2 lives per unit (mother/child). A total of 220,426 lives can be saved if 110,213 units of Medpax kits are used from 2015-2020.

Key program components

The indigenous technology incorporated into the production of Medpax makes it the first- of- its- kind, locally produced, disposable birth kit pack in Nigeria that provides women with all the components recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) for a safe and hygienic birth, using environmentally friendly and culturally appealing materials customized for local conditions thereby making it more acceptable than imported ones. They come in Basic and Professional packs such as Medpax (Basic) - for expectant mothers and Medpax (Pro) - for Midwives, Doctors, Paramedics, Clinics, Hospitals and Health-care centers.

Experts say that 1 in every 23 woman in Nigeria faces a real time risk of maternal death. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) confirms that some 800 women die daily from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, complications that often could be easily prevented with access to proper care and the most basic of supplies. With the use of Medpax, such complications and maternal deaths in women and children are prevented in real time.

The disposable and affordable nature of Medpax birth delivery kits makes it the preferred solution of choice in volatile and impoverished settings like war torn zones, IDP camps, and terrorist ravaged areas like Bornu State in Nigeria, e.t.c where other rival products from government and imported sources are beyond their reach in terms of cost. This makes Medpax the only reasonable alternative because of its low prices (N2,500 average price) compared to imported/government agency birth kits (N15,000 – N20,000) which are quite expensive because of the foreign exchange rate and therefore unaffordable to the vast majority of potential users in Nigeria and West Africa who live below the poverty line of $1.25 a day.

Coconut Oil is a key component is Medpax due to the cultural preference of the Nigerian people especially those from the South South, South East and South West part of the country.  As a result, Medpax components are customized with culturally appealing materials for local conditions thereby making it more acceptable than imported ones which are grossly inadequate and unavailable to meet the ever expanding local market needs. For instance, one of Medpax’s local components is Coconut oil which is locally and culturally preferred by Nigerians for its natural properties over Olive oil.

Med Dynamics Nig. Enterprises also ensures high professionalism amongst its professional users by organizing periodic trainings to educate and create awareness of the importance of using its live saving products (Medpax) and best practices in the industry, for midwives, unskilled traditional birth attendants (TBAs), other local operators and stakeholders who still operate in poor hygienic conditions, unsterile environments with crude implements.