7 Billion Reasons and counting...

I got attracted to this article mainly because of the catchy topic.... '7 Billion Reasons'by:SUZANNE PETRONI
http://www.msmagazine.com/summer2011/7billionreasons.asp
Just as Asia needs all the help she can get in areas of maternal advocacy and death prevention, so does Africa especially Nigeria need all the help she can get; and it is not only just to invest, but investing in sustainable developments. There is the need for investors to play an active role in how the monies are being spent; are the people at the grassroots feeling the effects of the billions being spent? If a random mother is picked and interviewed in villages not so remote but just near the cities, can they say they are feeling the impact? I believe for so many billions to be spent, there has to be a significant shift in maternal health, a reduction in the rate of deaths which should not be temporary but permanent.
There should be a way of measuring progress. Because ‘Knowing what to measure and how to measure it makes a complicated world much less so’. We are tired of reading about figures in the newspapers and watching our so called leaders recite doctored reports of improvements and drastic reductions in maternal death with figures reeled of smooth crispy papers and percentage figures added for extra effect on our television stations.
The same local centre in a far away village near ikare akoko in Ondo State remains the same as it was 6years ago. Or should I mention villages doting the landscape between Lagos and Ilorin. Sitting in their makeshift centres to cater to pregnant women, all this information is lost on them. The same centres remain the same over the years with no change in the structural arrangement or any help from the government. Where are all the foreign investments going?
The northern part is even worse. The stories are pathetic. We have as much as 5 babies dying a week in these centres. Our mothers have lost hope in the government and there so called programs.
It is not enough to scream for help from world health governing bodies and other societies. It goes way beyond that. We need sustainable development. We need a way of measuring progress so we won’t be like a ship on the high sea without a compass and rudderless.
I am not here to point accusing fingers. Most of our government’s efforts are well meaning. But when it is not targeted at the root cause, the problem will refuse to go away. I advocate not only more investment in maternal and infant health in Nigeria, I advocate a means of measuring progress.
I was happy when Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Nigeria, but I experienced dismay when they took him to Maitama General Hospital in Abuja, because he was being presented the wrong image. It would have been nicer if he had the opportunity of going just outside the state and visiting at random a local centre around Abuja the capital itself.
It is so pathetic because we are like a man with a big sore who dresses it up nicely and wears a big long flowing gown when the local doctor comes around and says he is well.
Nigeria’s maternal death is equivalent to a plane load of “pregnant women” dying daily! What can beat that? A drastic solution is called for, and until we devise a way of monitoring progress, Nigeria will not attain the 2015 target. We need to be realistic in order to make progress; enough of figures and percentiles. It is nauseating and only brings memories of animal farm to mind.