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By Stephen Adeleye
The Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, has called on state governments to ensure full implementation of all stages of the Maternal, Newborn, Child Health Week (MNCHW).
Mrs Buhari made the appeal on Monday in Lokoja at the flag-off ceremony of the week-long free healthcare services for women and children to mark the first phase of 2018 MNCHW in the state.
“We know, in spite the potential benefits of the MNCH week in improving maternal and child health indices, some states are not able to carry out this activity as expected for different reasons.
“I am calling on states that are yet to implement the MNCH week activities to do so for the benefit of women and children.
“The MNCH week provides a good platform for the delivery of these lifesaving interventions particularly to communities in underserved and hard to reach areas,” she said.
Mrs Buhari, who was represented by one of her associates, Mrs Grace Sharma, commended Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi and his wife for their efforts and commitment towards the successful flag-off of the MNCH Week.
However, she noted that some progress had been made towards improving the health and wellbeing of women and children in the last three years in Kogi as well as other states of the federation.
“There is still more work to be done because government cannot do it alone.
“Nigeria is one of the countries with high rates of maternal and child mortality rates at continental and global levels.
“It is sad to note that most of these deaths are preventable.
“Once again, I am calling on all relevant partners including the private sector to continue to support our state governments towards improving the health situation in their various states.
“It is important to ensure that we leave no one behind in our collective efforts to preserve the dignity of motherhood and the very core of our humanity,” she said.
The state governor appreciated the wife of the president and other donor partners, particularly the Federal Ministry of Health, for introducing the Save One Million Lives (SOML).
Bello, who was represented by the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Saka Audu, said that the SOML was targeted at improving maternal and child health to reduce Maternal, Newborn and Child Mortality rates.
He noted that the programme has tremendously improved the health of Kogi people through its six thematic areas including the MNCHW.
Bello listed the benefits of the programme to include provision of Vitamin A supplement and De-worming tablets, Routine Immunisation, Family Planning, Birth Registration and Ante-natal Care services.
The wife of the governor, Mrs Rashida Bello, said the MNCH week was an important period meant to put extra effort to reduce all health challenges affecting mothers and their newborn babies.
She said that the exercise would hold simultaneously in all the 21 local government areas of the state to provide services to mothers, especially pregnant women, and to have children vaccinated against killer diseases.
“I hope that those of you that are here will take advantage of the message of the exercise,” she said.
Dr Yakubu Abubakar, the Executive Director, Kogi Primary Health Care Development Agency (KSPHCDA), said the MNCHW was being funded by SOML, a programme sponsored by World Bank, which has touched lives of thousands of women and children across the state.
“The SOML programme will come to an end by December 2019 and hence the funding would cease to exist.
“We are appealing to the development partners to come to our aid in funding the MNCHW henceforth as neither the agency nor state government could do it alone,” Abubakar said.
The acting State Coordinator of World Health Organisation (WHO), Mr Daniel Dego, commended the effort of the state government at ensuring the well being of people and urged the state to sustain it.
Dego also commended the government for making it possible for the first time to cover communities in the state with high impact intervention.
“This a great improvement over the previous years, which is a demonstration of purposeful leadership in the Kogi state health sector, we urge the state not to relent in this regard.
“WHO stands with Kogi as a committed partner to continue to provide technical support in all areas of health in the State,” Dego said.
(NAN)
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