More than 70 pregnant women in Kabba-Bunu Local Government Area and its environs have received free medical treatment and health education at a two-day outreach organised by Southward Hospital and Diagnostic Centre, Edumo, a leading health facility in the area.
The programme, which brought together medical experts, traditional rulers and community members, combined clinical services with sensitisation sessions covering nutrition in pregnancy, the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding, personal and environmental hygiene, danger signs in pregnancy, and immunisation for both mother and child.
Beyond the health talks, beneficiaries also had access to free laboratory tests, physical examinations, obstetric scanning, and the distribution of mosquito nets and drugs.
Speaking on the objective of the outreach, the Chief Executive Officer of the hospital, Mrs. Bosede Omodara, said the initiative was designed to equip pregnant women with the knowledge they need for safe delivery.
“You know there is a place of information and there’s a place of education, and that is very key and important. If people do not hear, how will they take action?” she said.
Mrs. Omodara reaffirmed the hospital’s commitment to providing quality and affordable healthcare to the people, noting that the facility was established, among other reasons, to help reduce maternal mortality in the community.
She placed particular emphasis on exclusive breastfeeding, explaining its role in protecting infants from illness. According to her, babies who are exclusively breastfed benefit from antibodies passed on by their mothers, which strengthens their immunity and reduces the likelihood of sickness compared to babies fed with other forms of food. She added that poor hygiene in preparing alternatives such as baby formula could expose infants to diarrhoea, whereas exclusive breastfeeding supports healthy growth without such risks.
The Obaro of Kabba, Oba Solomon Owoniyi, described the medical outreach as historic and the first of its kind in Kabba-Bunu and its environs.
“We are witnessing history in the sense that nothing like this has [happened in] this environment. So we thank the Proprietor and his wife for making this possible. I am not aware of any hospital that is so kind, so generous, to have done what they are doing. So we have to pray for them so that next year, they will do better,” the monarch said.
He commended the sensitisation component of the programme as mind-blowing and revealing, and urged residents to take full advantage of the hospital’s services.
In her presentation, a medical expert at the outreach, Dr. Orji Onyinyechi, stressed that proper nutrition and adherence to routine drugs during pregnancy were necessary for the wellbeing of expectant mothers and the healthy development of their babies, in order to avoid postnatal complications.
She also warned pregnant women to guard against mosquito bites, noting that malaria poses serious dangers during pregnancy.
Also speaking, a resource person, Mrs. Christiana Ayere, appealed to the expectant mothers to strictly maintain personal hygiene and live in clean environments to safeguard their health and that of their unborn babies.
The outreach recorded a notable highlight when one of the participating pregnant women went into labour and was safely delivered of her baby during the exercise, an outcome many present described as a fitting testament to the impact of the programme.
The two-day exercise has been widely commended by residents and community leaders as a significant step toward improving maternal and child health outcomes in Kabba-Bunu and its environs.
