Chioma Obinna & Gabriel Olawale
SEXUAL and reproductive health and rights must be promoted in Nigeria if the incidence of maternal death from childbirth is to be controlled. Experts who called for promotion of these issues say ensuring access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care services for women, especially young women, would effectively address the prevailing reproductive health challenges.
At a three - day training workshop organised for Civil Society Groups and the media by the Centre for the Right To Health, CRH, government at all levels was charged to prioritise issues regarding sexual reproductive health and rights as part of strategies to reduce maternal mortality as well as cut down HIV infection rates.
Speaking to Good Health Weekly, the Project Director, Mr Bede Eziefule, regretted that despite the progress at the international arena, the realisation of sexual and reproductive rights has remained a great challenge in Nigeria.
"Over the years the health needs of women, particularly young women, women living with HIV& AIDS, widows and persons with disabilities have continued to be ignored or treated with levity in many African countries including Nigeria.
The result of this includes incessant loss of health in young women due to high prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), poor access to contraception, unacceptable, but preventable, loss of lives due to pregnancy complications, violence and physical abuse and high HIV/AIDS prevalence. All these are not only debilitating for women and other marginalised groups but also the society at large."
Eziefule said: "In a society where people are knowledgeable about their rights, including their sexual and reproductive rights, there is a tendency that the dignity and human rights of others will be respected.
"The result will be a society where justice, equity, peace and harmony reign supreme. Knowledge on sexual and reproductive health issues has the potential to prevent unnecessary loss of lives, facilitate policy reforms and develop local capacity in this field.
He added that if sexual reproductive health education was promoted, the rate of rape, STIs, abortions, unwanted pregnancies and overpopulation in the country would drastically "Adequate awareness for sexual and reproductive health will go a long way in reducing STDs, abortions and overpopulation.
"The few youth centres available are not friendly to the youths when they come in for information and advice thereby making it less appealing for them to want to go there".
http://allafrica.com/stories/201111220155.html
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Tuesday, November 22, 2011
17,000 Nigerian children die of pneumonia yearly, says WHO
by: Oyeyemi Gbenga-Mustapha
•How to combat disease, by medical women
No fewer than 17, 700 Nigerian children die from pneumonia-related diseases every year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Citing a WHO report, the Coalition Against Pneumonia (CAP) said the disease kills more children than any other disease - AIDS, malaria and measles combined.
CAP said Nigeria is among the 15 countries worse hit by the disease.
It said despite the Federal Government’s efforts to eradicate the disease, enough work has not been done.
The coalition urged the government to redouble its efforts in the campaign against the disease.
To tackle the menace, the Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria (MWAN) has called for intensive action to eradicate the disease by integrating injection into routine immunisation.
Pnuemonia can be prevented by immunisation because, "it is an infection in the lungs and can be caused by bacteria, virus, fungus or parasites. The lungs are filled with fluid which blocks the passage of oxygen into the lungs. Clinical features include fever, chills, chest pain, productive cough, weakness, loss of appetite and difficulty in breathing.
"Pneumonia causes almost one in five under five deaths worldwide yearly. WHO states that it is the single largest cause of death in children worldwide, an estimated 1.4million children under the age of five, 98 per cent of these children are from developing countries.
"Nigeria has the highest child mortality rate in Africa, and it has been confirmed that no fewer than 90,000 children die from pneumonia-related diseases. Of the figure, Nigeriaaccounts for 17, 700.Lack of attention to the disease has caused too few children to have access to currently available interventions. Vaccination has a vital role to play especially when available, affordable and accessible," MWAN said in a statement.
"The initiative to form a Global Coalition Against Child Pneumonia was taken in April 2009. The goal was to create awareness and to encourage governments and other efforts to support the implementation of a range of proven measures to combat the disease through prevention and treatment. This include donors, policymakers, healthcare professionals and the general public.
"Three years ago, November 12 was set aside to celebrate globally World Pneumonia Day to provide an annual forum for the world to stand together and demand more attention on the disease and intensify the fight against the disease. The coalition co-ordinates World Pneumonia Day and presents a yearly report. In 2011, the Pneumonia Progress Report examined data and several key pneumonia interventions –including exclusive breast feeding, access to health care facility, antibiotic treatment and vaccination against pneumonia’s four leading causes in the 15 countries worst affected including Nigeria. Even though there was some progress but it was not enough. The inclusion of the vaccine into the EPI will indeed assist."
All hope is, however, not lost on the eradication of the disease, with the recognation of Pfizer’s Prevnar 13® (Pneumococcal 13-valent Conjugate Vaccine (Diphtheria CRM197 Protein) as a cure for it.
Approved in the United States by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in February for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in infants and young children, and registered in the same year by the National Agency for Food Drug, Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prevenar 13 provides the broadest serotype coverage of any pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and is currently available in more than 100 countries including Nigeria, South Africa, Sierra Leone Uganda, Kenya, Gambia, Rwanda and Senegal.
http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/health/27087-17-000-nigerian-children-die-of-pneumonia-yearly-says-who.html
•How to combat disease, by medical women
No fewer than 17, 700 Nigerian children die from pneumonia-related diseases every year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Citing a WHO report, the Coalition Against Pneumonia (CAP) said the disease kills more children than any other disease - AIDS, malaria and measles combined.
CAP said Nigeria is among the 15 countries worse hit by the disease.
It said despite the Federal Government’s efforts to eradicate the disease, enough work has not been done.
The coalition urged the government to redouble its efforts in the campaign against the disease.
To tackle the menace, the Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria (MWAN) has called for intensive action to eradicate the disease by integrating injection into routine immunisation.
Pnuemonia can be prevented by immunisation because, "it is an infection in the lungs and can be caused by bacteria, virus, fungus or parasites. The lungs are filled with fluid which blocks the passage of oxygen into the lungs. Clinical features include fever, chills, chest pain, productive cough, weakness, loss of appetite and difficulty in breathing.
"Pneumonia causes almost one in five under five deaths worldwide yearly. WHO states that it is the single largest cause of death in children worldwide, an estimated 1.4million children under the age of five, 98 per cent of these children are from developing countries.
"Nigeria has the highest child mortality rate in Africa, and it has been confirmed that no fewer than 90,000 children die from pneumonia-related diseases. Of the figure, Nigeriaaccounts for 17, 700.Lack of attention to the disease has caused too few children to have access to currently available interventions. Vaccination has a vital role to play especially when available, affordable and accessible," MWAN said in a statement.
"The initiative to form a Global Coalition Against Child Pneumonia was taken in April 2009. The goal was to create awareness and to encourage governments and other efforts to support the implementation of a range of proven measures to combat the disease through prevention and treatment. This include donors, policymakers, healthcare professionals and the general public.
"Three years ago, November 12 was set aside to celebrate globally World Pneumonia Day to provide an annual forum for the world to stand together and demand more attention on the disease and intensify the fight against the disease. The coalition co-ordinates World Pneumonia Day and presents a yearly report. In 2011, the Pneumonia Progress Report examined data and several key pneumonia interventions –including exclusive breast feeding, access to health care facility, antibiotic treatment and vaccination against pneumonia’s four leading causes in the 15 countries worst affected including Nigeria. Even though there was some progress but it was not enough. The inclusion of the vaccine into the EPI will indeed assist."
All hope is, however, not lost on the eradication of the disease, with the recognation of Pfizer’s Prevnar 13® (Pneumococcal 13-valent Conjugate Vaccine (Diphtheria CRM197 Protein) as a cure for it.
Approved in the United States by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in February for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in infants and young children, and registered in the same year by the National Agency for Food Drug, Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prevenar 13 provides the broadest serotype coverage of any pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and is currently available in more than 100 countries including Nigeria, South Africa, Sierra Leone Uganda, Kenya, Gambia, Rwanda and Senegal.
http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/health/27087-17-000-nigerian-children-die-of-pneumonia-yearly-says-who.html
ADHF, Heineken Foundation Sign MoU to Tackle Neonatal Jaundice
IN line with the global trend to reduce the infant mortality rate in Nigeria as a result of jaundice, the Anu Dosekun Healthcare Foundation, ADHF, a not-for-profit organisation and the Heineken Africa Foundation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, to embark on a 12-month free screening pilot project dubbed "Jaundice in Babies Awareness Campaign" (JIBA) in the Lagos West area of Lagos State.
The free screening commences in December at Outreach Children's Hospital, FESTAC, Lagos, while the mobile clinic commences its free screenings in January 2012 at the Amuwo Odofin and Oriade Primary Health Centres. Under the JIBA Campaign, ADHF will provide free screening and treatment of jaundice to all babies born at home, private and public health institutions as well as by traditional birth attendants.
Initiator of the ADHF initiative, Dr Efunbo Dosekun, said the JIBA campaign is aimed at creating awareness about the dangers of jaundice. "The campaign aims to create and improve public awareness about the dangers of neonatal jaundice in babies," she stated, adding that ADHF believes that improved public awareness of jaundice would ensure early screening and detection of the illness in children. She said early detection will prevent the progression to severe Jaundice and thereby reduce disabilities and deaths.
According to her, the JIBA Campaign will also launch and promote the concept of the 3-Day Baby Check. "All babies within their first three days of birth should get a full check. This check is to promote the early detection and ultimately treatment of any Childhood illnesses and abnormalities if any."
Dosekun said: "There has not been any significant reduction in the neonatal mortality figures in Nigeria over the past 10 years. The current newborn statistics in Nigeria according to the United Nations states that around 1 in every 20 neonates dies.
This is in contrast to the under 5 mortality rate which has reduced by 1.2 percent every year in the past 10 years. Less than four years to 2015, we are still a long way from achieving the MDG 4 which states a reduction by two thirds the under 5 mortality rate..
Dosekun observed that conditions such as birth asphyxia, neonatal infection, prematurity and neonatal jaundice were top on the list. She said neonatal jaundice could present as s single entity or in combination with the other three killer conditions. skills, hearing and learning difficulties.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201111220254.html
The free screening commences in December at Outreach Children's Hospital, FESTAC, Lagos, while the mobile clinic commences its free screenings in January 2012 at the Amuwo Odofin and Oriade Primary Health Centres. Under the JIBA Campaign, ADHF will provide free screening and treatment of jaundice to all babies born at home, private and public health institutions as well as by traditional birth attendants.
Initiator of the ADHF initiative, Dr Efunbo Dosekun, said the JIBA campaign is aimed at creating awareness about the dangers of jaundice. "The campaign aims to create and improve public awareness about the dangers of neonatal jaundice in babies," she stated, adding that ADHF believes that improved public awareness of jaundice would ensure early screening and detection of the illness in children. She said early detection will prevent the progression to severe Jaundice and thereby reduce disabilities and deaths.
According to her, the JIBA Campaign will also launch and promote the concept of the 3-Day Baby Check. "All babies within their first three days of birth should get a full check. This check is to promote the early detection and ultimately treatment of any Childhood illnesses and abnormalities if any."
Dosekun said: "There has not been any significant reduction in the neonatal mortality figures in Nigeria over the past 10 years. The current newborn statistics in Nigeria according to the United Nations states that around 1 in every 20 neonates dies.
This is in contrast to the under 5 mortality rate which has reduced by 1.2 percent every year in the past 10 years. Less than four years to 2015, we are still a long way from achieving the MDG 4 which states a reduction by two thirds the under 5 mortality rate..
Dosekun observed that conditions such as birth asphyxia, neonatal infection, prematurity and neonatal jaundice were top on the list. She said neonatal jaundice could present as s single entity or in combination with the other three killer conditions. skills, hearing and learning difficulties.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201111220254.html
Parents Tasked On Daughters' Enrolment Into Midwifery
Halima Musa
Kano — Parents in the North-west region of the country have been urged to encourage their female children to enrol into the school of midwifery to increase the number of midwives in government health organizations. The Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Dr Ado J G Muhammad made the call in Kano at one-day meeting of Ward Development Committees, North-West zone under the midwives serving scheme program.
Represented by the zonal coordinator, North-west zone, Dr A.B Garba, Muhammad said the number of indigenous midwives is very low in the zone while noting that trained midwives could help to reduce maternal mortality in the country.
"I'm calling on parents to encourage their female children to enrol into the school of midwifery because it is only through this channel that we can get trained midwives that would assist in the newly introduced Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) which is aimed at reducing maternal mortality in Nigeria," he said.
He noted that most of the midwives under the scheme are from the Southern part of the country, adding that lack of indigenous midwives in the scheme is posing so many challenges to the success of the program.
The executive director solicited the support of communities where the Midwives Service Scheme is running to provide an enabling and secured environment for the workers. Also speaking, the Executive Director of Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR), a Non Government Organization(NGO)AbdulHamid Abdullahi Bagara, a collaborating partner, said the CHR has signed an MOU with NPHCDA to support quarterly data collection and analysis on the Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) in Kano and Sokoto States and also to conduct simple MSS budget analysis to generate facts that will facilitate advocacy, especially on state and local governments commitment to the MSS program.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201111211022.html
Kano — Parents in the North-west region of the country have been urged to encourage their female children to enrol into the school of midwifery to increase the number of midwives in government health organizations. The Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Dr Ado J G Muhammad made the call in Kano at one-day meeting of Ward Development Committees, North-West zone under the midwives serving scheme program.
Represented by the zonal coordinator, North-west zone, Dr A.B Garba, Muhammad said the number of indigenous midwives is very low in the zone while noting that trained midwives could help to reduce maternal mortality in the country.
"I'm calling on parents to encourage their female children to enrol into the school of midwifery because it is only through this channel that we can get trained midwives that would assist in the newly introduced Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) which is aimed at reducing maternal mortality in Nigeria," he said.
He noted that most of the midwives under the scheme are from the Southern part of the country, adding that lack of indigenous midwives in the scheme is posing so many challenges to the success of the program.
The executive director solicited the support of communities where the Midwives Service Scheme is running to provide an enabling and secured environment for the workers. Also speaking, the Executive Director of Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR), a Non Government Organization(NGO)AbdulHamid Abdullahi Bagara, a collaborating partner, said the CHR has signed an MOU with NPHCDA to support quarterly data collection and analysis on the Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) in Kano and Sokoto States and also to conduct simple MSS budget analysis to generate facts that will facilitate advocacy, especially on state and local governments commitment to the MSS program.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201111211022.html
Parents Tasked On Daughters' Enrolment Into Midwifery
Halima Musa
Kano — Parents in the North-west region of the country have been urged to encourage their female children to enrol into the school of midwifery to increase the number of midwives in government health organizations. The Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Dr Ado J G Muhammad made the call in Kano at one-day meeting of Ward Development Committees, North-West zone under the midwives serving scheme program.
Represented by the zonal coordinator, North-west zone, Dr A.B Garba, Muhammad said the number of indigenous midwives is very low in the zone while noting that trained midwives could help to reduce maternal mortality in the country.
"I'm calling on parents to encourage their female children to enrol into the school of midwifery because it is only through this channel that we can get trained midwives that would assist in the newly introduced Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) which is aimed at reducing maternal mortality in Nigeria," he said.
He noted that most of the midwives under the scheme are from the Southern part of the country, adding that lack of indigenous midwives in the scheme is posing so many challenges to the success of the program.
The executive director solicited the support of communities where the Midwives Service Scheme is running to provide an enabling and secured environment for the workers. Also speaking, the Executive Director of Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR), a Non Government Organization(NGO)AbdulHamid Abdullahi Bagara, a collaborating partner, said the CHR has signed an MOU with NPHCDA to support quarterly data collection and analysis on the Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) in Kano and Sokoto States and also to conduct simple MSS budget analysis to generate facts that will facilitate advocacy, especially on state and local governments commitment to the MSS program.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201111211022.html
Kano — Parents in the North-west region of the country have been urged to encourage their female children to enrol into the school of midwifery to increase the number of midwives in government health organizations. The Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Dr Ado J G Muhammad made the call in Kano at one-day meeting of Ward Development Committees, North-West zone under the midwives serving scheme program.
Represented by the zonal coordinator, North-west zone, Dr A.B Garba, Muhammad said the number of indigenous midwives is very low in the zone while noting that trained midwives could help to reduce maternal mortality in the country.
"I'm calling on parents to encourage their female children to enrol into the school of midwifery because it is only through this channel that we can get trained midwives that would assist in the newly introduced Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) which is aimed at reducing maternal mortality in Nigeria," he said.
He noted that most of the midwives under the scheme are from the Southern part of the country, adding that lack of indigenous midwives in the scheme is posing so many challenges to the success of the program.
The executive director solicited the support of communities where the Midwives Service Scheme is running to provide an enabling and secured environment for the workers. Also speaking, the Executive Director of Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR), a Non Government Organization(NGO)AbdulHamid Abdullahi Bagara, a collaborating partner, said the CHR has signed an MOU with NPHCDA to support quarterly data collection and analysis on the Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) in Kano and Sokoto States and also to conduct simple MSS budget analysis to generate facts that will facilitate advocacy, especially on state and local governments commitment to the MSS program.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201111211022.html
Democracy and the crises in Nigeria’s health sector
By UZODINMA ADIRIEFE
After the failure of previous efforts at enthroning democracy, Nigeria once more embraced the government of the people, by the people and for the people, in the twilight of the 20th Century. May 2010 marked ten years of unbroken democracy in the country, the longest period of civilian rule since the country was granted political independence by the British on the first day of October 1960.
These last ten years have witnessed relative peace, with changes in the economy occasioned by steady growth, a large reduction in external debt, and structural reforms of the financial and telecommunications sectors. That these changes have significantly rubbed off positively on the standard of living of the majority of the citizens is debatable. As the world marked the international Democracy Day, September 15, and Nigeria celebrated its 51st independence anniversary, it is worthwhile to discuss the country’s health situation over the last decade.
In Democracy and Mental Health: The Idea of Post-psychiatry, Pat Bracken explained democracy as being about ordinary people having control of their lives and that this is a bigger issue than who is allowed to vote, when, where and for whom. In 1918, some one hundred years ago, while addressing a meeting of the American Public Health Association on the subject of “Democracy and Public Health Administration,” the then president of the association, Dr. Charles J. Hastings, said: “under our present public health administration, we require people to conform to certain regulations. We endeavour to teach them how to live. We tell them that plenty of nutritious food, fresh air and sunshine are the best and only reliable remedies for tuberculosis and other wasting diseases.
We insist on mothers nursing their babies, assuring them that by doing so, they give their infants ten chances to one than they would have it if artificially fed …what our nation requires is a fitter race, and what every individual is entitled to is the development of the best, mental and physical, of which he is capable; and, no government is worthy of being called a democracy that does not make this possible. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social-well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.” Therefore, improving the health of the worst-off can improve a country’s aggregate performance in health, and her health and development indices. Democratic institutions are expected to affect health positively through policies and actions that translate to universal access to high quality health services and products that improve the lives of the citizenry.
Health care provision in Nigeria is a concurrent responsibility of the three tiers of government in the country. However, because the country operates a mixed economy, private providers of health care also play visible roles in the country’s health care delivery. The federal government’s role is mostly limited to coordinating the affairs of the university teaching hospitals, while the state governments manage the various general hospitals and the local governments focus on primary health care and dispensaries.
This article takes a look at how the actions and inactions of the players in Nigeria’s present democratic set-up have impacted on the country’s persistent health crises in the last ten years. Certainly, a country’s democratic structure affects virtually every aspect of society, including health.
A review of the 2010 and 2005 World Health Statistics published by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that although Nigerian government’s general expenditure on health as a percentage of total government expenditure has marginally increased over the years, from 4.2% in year 2000, down to 3.2% in 2002, and up to 6.5% in 2007, this has consistently fallen short of the 15% that was recommended by the African Union in the Abuja Declaration of 2001. This picture is replicated in most of the Federal Capital Territory, the thirty-six States of the Federation, and their Local Government Areas. On the other hand, during the same period, the governments of Ghana and South Africa allocated well over 10% of their annual expenditure to health.
Nigeria’s health indices and those of Ghana and South Africa are also very similar. As revealed by the WHO, in 2003, these three countries had under-five or U-5 mortality rates of 198, 95 and 66 respectively, while the same index was 186,76 and respectively in 2010. The U-5 MR is the probability of a child born in a specific year or period dying before reaching the age of five, and is usually expressed per 1,000 live births. Over the same period also, Nigeria’s average life expectancy increased from 47.5 years in year 2000 to 49 years in 2008. Life expectancy is the number of years a person is expected to live as determined by mortality in a specific geographic area. The country’s adult HIV prevalence also improved from 5.4% in 2003 to 3.1% in 2007.
Although no single factor can be attributed with improvement in health of the country, Nigeria’s marginal improvements can be largely attributed to the increase in health expenditure over the preceding years. These improvements would surely increase if the expenditure on health is increased to the level recommended in the Abuja declaration.
Unfortunately, the country’s maternal mortality ratio or NMR – a critical measure of the state of health of every country – took a plunge for the worse during this period, increasing from 800 in year 2000 to 1,100 in 2010. The NMR represents the annual number of deaths of women from pregnancy- related causes per 100,000 live births. Sadly too, both the boost given to primary health care by the late Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, and the impetus given to health sector reforms by Professor Eyitayo Lambo, appear to have run into mucky waters. Indisputably, the tenures of both men as Ministers of Health in Nigeria had been our most glorious in the last twenty-five years.
The relationship between democracy and health outcomes has also been the focus of recent research interest. With an estimated 158 million people in 2010, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa.
In the health sector, progress has been slow and many challenges remain: from weak health system to tackling HIV/AIDS; from improving immunization coverage (which in the past has impeded the global goal of eradicating polio) to implementing the new International Health Regulation (IHR); from achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to preparing for pandemic flu. In many communities of the country, critical infrastructure that support health e.g. water, good sanitation and electricity are still lacking; while health facilities remain dilapidated … waiting for GA Vi, the Global Fund, Bill and Melinda Gates, PEPFAR, World Bank and other donors and multilateral/bilateral partners. At the same time, workers in many government health institutions occasionally ‘down tool’ over unpaid entitlements. Yet, we are just four years away from 2015, the magical year for the MDGs. Government officials still readily go to health institutions in other countries for their health care needs at the expense of taxpayers. Shouldn’t we do better?
Adiriefe writes from Lagos.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/opinion/2011/nov/18/opinion-18-11-2011-002.html
After the failure of previous efforts at enthroning democracy, Nigeria once more embraced the government of the people, by the people and for the people, in the twilight of the 20th Century. May 2010 marked ten years of unbroken democracy in the country, the longest period of civilian rule since the country was granted political independence by the British on the first day of October 1960.
These last ten years have witnessed relative peace, with changes in the economy occasioned by steady growth, a large reduction in external debt, and structural reforms of the financial and telecommunications sectors. That these changes have significantly rubbed off positively on the standard of living of the majority of the citizens is debatable. As the world marked the international Democracy Day, September 15, and Nigeria celebrated its 51st independence anniversary, it is worthwhile to discuss the country’s health situation over the last decade.
In Democracy and Mental Health: The Idea of Post-psychiatry, Pat Bracken explained democracy as being about ordinary people having control of their lives and that this is a bigger issue than who is allowed to vote, when, where and for whom. In 1918, some one hundred years ago, while addressing a meeting of the American Public Health Association on the subject of “Democracy and Public Health Administration,” the then president of the association, Dr. Charles J. Hastings, said: “under our present public health administration, we require people to conform to certain regulations. We endeavour to teach them how to live. We tell them that plenty of nutritious food, fresh air and sunshine are the best and only reliable remedies for tuberculosis and other wasting diseases.
We insist on mothers nursing their babies, assuring them that by doing so, they give their infants ten chances to one than they would have it if artificially fed …what our nation requires is a fitter race, and what every individual is entitled to is the development of the best, mental and physical, of which he is capable; and, no government is worthy of being called a democracy that does not make this possible. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social-well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.” Therefore, improving the health of the worst-off can improve a country’s aggregate performance in health, and her health and development indices. Democratic institutions are expected to affect health positively through policies and actions that translate to universal access to high quality health services and products that improve the lives of the citizenry.
Health care provision in Nigeria is a concurrent responsibility of the three tiers of government in the country. However, because the country operates a mixed economy, private providers of health care also play visible roles in the country’s health care delivery. The federal government’s role is mostly limited to coordinating the affairs of the university teaching hospitals, while the state governments manage the various general hospitals and the local governments focus on primary health care and dispensaries.
This article takes a look at how the actions and inactions of the players in Nigeria’s present democratic set-up have impacted on the country’s persistent health crises in the last ten years. Certainly, a country’s democratic structure affects virtually every aspect of society, including health.
A review of the 2010 and 2005 World Health Statistics published by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that although Nigerian government’s general expenditure on health as a percentage of total government expenditure has marginally increased over the years, from 4.2% in year 2000, down to 3.2% in 2002, and up to 6.5% in 2007, this has consistently fallen short of the 15% that was recommended by the African Union in the Abuja Declaration of 2001. This picture is replicated in most of the Federal Capital Territory, the thirty-six States of the Federation, and their Local Government Areas. On the other hand, during the same period, the governments of Ghana and South Africa allocated well over 10% of their annual expenditure to health.
Nigeria’s health indices and those of Ghana and South Africa are also very similar. As revealed by the WHO, in 2003, these three countries had under-five or U-5 mortality rates of 198, 95 and 66 respectively, while the same index was 186,76 and respectively in 2010. The U-5 MR is the probability of a child born in a specific year or period dying before reaching the age of five, and is usually expressed per 1,000 live births. Over the same period also, Nigeria’s average life expectancy increased from 47.5 years in year 2000 to 49 years in 2008. Life expectancy is the number of years a person is expected to live as determined by mortality in a specific geographic area. The country’s adult HIV prevalence also improved from 5.4% in 2003 to 3.1% in 2007.
Although no single factor can be attributed with improvement in health of the country, Nigeria’s marginal improvements can be largely attributed to the increase in health expenditure over the preceding years. These improvements would surely increase if the expenditure on health is increased to the level recommended in the Abuja declaration.
Unfortunately, the country’s maternal mortality ratio or NMR – a critical measure of the state of health of every country – took a plunge for the worse during this period, increasing from 800 in year 2000 to 1,100 in 2010. The NMR represents the annual number of deaths of women from pregnancy- related causes per 100,000 live births. Sadly too, both the boost given to primary health care by the late Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, and the impetus given to health sector reforms by Professor Eyitayo Lambo, appear to have run into mucky waters. Indisputably, the tenures of both men as Ministers of Health in Nigeria had been our most glorious in the last twenty-five years.
The relationship between democracy and health outcomes has also been the focus of recent research interest. With an estimated 158 million people in 2010, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa.
In the health sector, progress has been slow and many challenges remain: from weak health system to tackling HIV/AIDS; from improving immunization coverage (which in the past has impeded the global goal of eradicating polio) to implementing the new International Health Regulation (IHR); from achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to preparing for pandemic flu. In many communities of the country, critical infrastructure that support health e.g. water, good sanitation and electricity are still lacking; while health facilities remain dilapidated … waiting for GA Vi, the Global Fund, Bill and Melinda Gates, PEPFAR, World Bank and other donors and multilateral/bilateral partners. At the same time, workers in many government health institutions occasionally ‘down tool’ over unpaid entitlements. Yet, we are just four years away from 2015, the magical year for the MDGs. Government officials still readily go to health institutions in other countries for their health care needs at the expense of taxpayers. Shouldn’t we do better?
Adiriefe writes from Lagos.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/opinion/2011/nov/18/opinion-18-11-2011-002.html
US to Spend $56.3m on Family Planning, Maternal Health
By Paul Obi
In its resolve to assist Nigeria in the improvement of its health care system, the United State (US) government through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is to spend about $56.3 million for the promotion of family planning and maternal healthcare in the country.
The project is to be carried out through the Expanded Social Marketing Project in Nigeria (ESMPIN) where 15 states in the federation are expected to benefit. Speaking to journalists on the project, Coordinator of the programme, Marty Bell, explained that the project was aimed at improving the health of women and children in the country, primarily by increasing the use of modern products.
Bell said: “The project will increase access to family planning, reproductive health and child health products; increase use of health products and practice of healthy behaviours, generate support from all sectors for social marketing as an important part of a total market approach and access the viability of local manufacture of key health products.”
He further observed that ESMPIN intends to act as a spur in Nigeria’s family planning strategy, adding: “It will direct provision of 23 million couples’ years of protection over the life of the project, growing the overall market for family planning in Nigeria by generating increased demand and pushing to increase the use of medium and long acting contraceptive methods that are currently in low demand that suffer from many myths, misconception and barriers to use.”
Managing Director of Society for Family Health (SFH), Dr. Bright Ekweremadu, speaking in the same vein, said the organisation will remain focus to the tenets of reproductive health, stating that the task of providing better health care system cannot be left in the hands of government alone.
Ekweremadu likewise stated that more women and children would continue to receive attention, given that they constitute the bulk of health challenges Nigeria faced.
The five year project is expected to expand the scope of family planning with the introduction of new products as well as strategies that encourage rural communities to embrace the family planning. States earmarked to benefit from the scheme include, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Delta, Edo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Rivers among others.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/us-to-spend-56-3m-on-family-planning-maternal-health/103009/
In its resolve to assist Nigeria in the improvement of its health care system, the United State (US) government through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is to spend about $56.3 million for the promotion of family planning and maternal healthcare in the country.
The project is to be carried out through the Expanded Social Marketing Project in Nigeria (ESMPIN) where 15 states in the federation are expected to benefit. Speaking to journalists on the project, Coordinator of the programme, Marty Bell, explained that the project was aimed at improving the health of women and children in the country, primarily by increasing the use of modern products.
Bell said: “The project will increase access to family planning, reproductive health and child health products; increase use of health products and practice of healthy behaviours, generate support from all sectors for social marketing as an important part of a total market approach and access the viability of local manufacture of key health products.”
He further observed that ESMPIN intends to act as a spur in Nigeria’s family planning strategy, adding: “It will direct provision of 23 million couples’ years of protection over the life of the project, growing the overall market for family planning in Nigeria by generating increased demand and pushing to increase the use of medium and long acting contraceptive methods that are currently in low demand that suffer from many myths, misconception and barriers to use.”
Managing Director of Society for Family Health (SFH), Dr. Bright Ekweremadu, speaking in the same vein, said the organisation will remain focus to the tenets of reproductive health, stating that the task of providing better health care system cannot be left in the hands of government alone.
Ekweremadu likewise stated that more women and children would continue to receive attention, given that they constitute the bulk of health challenges Nigeria faced.
The five year project is expected to expand the scope of family planning with the introduction of new products as well as strategies that encourage rural communities to embrace the family planning. States earmarked to benefit from the scheme include, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Delta, Edo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Rivers among others.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/us-to-spend-56-3m-on-family-planning-maternal-health/103009/
Abia NMA lauds Orji over health centres
By Anayo Okoli
Umuahia- ABIA State branch of Nigerian Medical Association Association, NMA, has commended Governor Theodore Orji over the building of about 215 health centres in the state, saying they would help in the fight against killer diseases in the rural areas.
The association also commended the government for establishing two diagnostic and specialist hospitals in Aba and Umuahia, which the doctors said were comparable to what obtained anywhere in the world.
Speaking at the memorial lecture in honour of a prominent politician and medical practitioner, late Dr. Josiah Okezie, Abia State chairman of NMA, Dr. Kingsley Enweremadu, noted that the governor had bequeathed an effective healthcare facility to future generation.
He said if all the necessary personnel are posted to the healthcare centres, they will help to fight incidences of maternal and infant mortality in the state.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/abia-nma-lauds-orji-over-health-centres/
Umuahia- ABIA State branch of Nigerian Medical Association Association, NMA, has commended Governor Theodore Orji over the building of about 215 health centres in the state, saying they would help in the fight against killer diseases in the rural areas.
The association also commended the government for establishing two diagnostic and specialist hospitals in Aba and Umuahia, which the doctors said were comparable to what obtained anywhere in the world.
Speaking at the memorial lecture in honour of a prominent politician and medical practitioner, late Dr. Josiah Okezie, Abia State chairman of NMA, Dr. Kingsley Enweremadu, noted that the governor had bequeathed an effective healthcare facility to future generation.
He said if all the necessary personnel are posted to the healthcare centres, they will help to fight incidences of maternal and infant mortality in the state.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/abia-nma-lauds-orji-over-health-centres/
Aregbesola urges mothers to protect children against killer diseases
By Oyeyemi Gbenga-Mustapha
Mothers have been urged to protect their children from preventable killer disease by taking advantage of government qualitative health care policy and inoculate them at appropriate time.
The call was made by the wife of Osun State Governor, Mrs Sherifat Aregbesola while flagging-off the second phase of this year’s maternal, newborn and child health week at Ipetumodu town hall in Ife-North Local Government Area.
According to her, we cannot afford to fail our children at a crucial time like this. All parents and guarding must sacrifice time, energy and go extra mile to ensure the wellbeing of the children.
She appealed to mothers to endeavour to make their children, who are the primary target for the programme, available to benefit from it.
She reminded the gathering that one of the six points’ integral action plan of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s administration would restore healthy living to the people, especially women and children.
The administration, according to her, has shown the political will to deliver on its promises through procurement and distribution of drugs, to be given free to expectant and nursing mothers, to medical centres in the state and free distribution of eye glasses (Jigi Omoluabi) to people earlier in the year.
The first lady also assured organisations that partnered with the state government on the success of the programme, saying the administration would not renege in its pledge to improve the lots of the teeming populace of the state.
She then called on wives of local government chairmen in the state to support her call for increased support for the welfare of women and children across the state.
"I appeal to government at various levels to increase their support and political commitment towards health sector. This is the most fertile ground to sow your seed because the beneficiaries are the helpless and God would reward you abundantly", she pleaded.
In her keynote address, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Temitope Ilori disclosed that though maternal mortality rate is low in the state, she stressed that the state would not relent in its efforts at eliminating the scourge totally.
"The current mortality rate in the state is 165 per 100,000 lives delivery, while under five mortality rate is 113 per 1000 live births, the rate is among the lowest in the country. This is still unacceptable because no woman should die because she wants to bring another person to life and because every life is sacred", she added.
Dr Ilori further said that the reason for bringing the programme to Ife-North is to surpass the past achievement of the programme, saying the council area has been lagging behind others in the state in previous programmes.
She lauded partnering organisation for giving mothers and children in the state the opportunity to improve their health status.
The event after the flag-off is to be followed by a week-long activities including administering multi-vitamins supplement and distribution of hygienic kits to expectant women and nursing mothers across the council area.
http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/health/26298-aregbesola-urges-mothers-to-protect-children-against-killer-diseases.html
Mothers have been urged to protect their children from preventable killer disease by taking advantage of government qualitative health care policy and inoculate them at appropriate time.
The call was made by the wife of Osun State Governor, Mrs Sherifat Aregbesola while flagging-off the second phase of this year’s maternal, newborn and child health week at Ipetumodu town hall in Ife-North Local Government Area.
According to her, we cannot afford to fail our children at a crucial time like this. All parents and guarding must sacrifice time, energy and go extra mile to ensure the wellbeing of the children.
She appealed to mothers to endeavour to make their children, who are the primary target for the programme, available to benefit from it.
She reminded the gathering that one of the six points’ integral action plan of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s administration would restore healthy living to the people, especially women and children.
The administration, according to her, has shown the political will to deliver on its promises through procurement and distribution of drugs, to be given free to expectant and nursing mothers, to medical centres in the state and free distribution of eye glasses (Jigi Omoluabi) to people earlier in the year.
The first lady also assured organisations that partnered with the state government on the success of the programme, saying the administration would not renege in its pledge to improve the lots of the teeming populace of the state.
She then called on wives of local government chairmen in the state to support her call for increased support for the welfare of women and children across the state.
"I appeal to government at various levels to increase their support and political commitment towards health sector. This is the most fertile ground to sow your seed because the beneficiaries are the helpless and God would reward you abundantly", she pleaded.
In her keynote address, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Temitope Ilori disclosed that though maternal mortality rate is low in the state, she stressed that the state would not relent in its efforts at eliminating the scourge totally.
"The current mortality rate in the state is 165 per 100,000 lives delivery, while under five mortality rate is 113 per 1000 live births, the rate is among the lowest in the country. This is still unacceptable because no woman should die because she wants to bring another person to life and because every life is sacred", she added.
Dr Ilori further said that the reason for bringing the programme to Ife-North is to surpass the past achievement of the programme, saying the council area has been lagging behind others in the state in previous programmes.
She lauded partnering organisation for giving mothers and children in the state the opportunity to improve their health status.
The event after the flag-off is to be followed by a week-long activities including administering multi-vitamins supplement and distribution of hygienic kits to expectant women and nursing mothers across the council area.
http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/health/26298-aregbesola-urges-mothers-to-protect-children-against-killer-diseases.html
Combating Infant Maternal Mortality: The Mimiko Initiative
In 2000, world leaders met and collectively proclaimed an ambitious target aimed at reducing infant maternal mortality by two-thirds in 2015. While infant mortality was christened Millennium Development Goals (MDG-4), maternal mortality was dubbed Millennium Development Goals (MDG-5).
Expectedly, in Nigeria, politicians, government officials, healthcare providers, counsellors, non-government organisations (NGOs) and the civil society latched on the latest refrain: Millennium Development Goals.
Instructively, the MDGs are eight in all. They are MDG-1, reducing extreme poverty; MDG-2, universal primary education; MDG-3, gender and women empowerment; MDG-4, reduction of child mortality; MDG-5, reduction of maternal mortality; MDG-6, combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases; MDG-7, environmental sustainability and MDG-8, developing global partnership for development.
The World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nation’s Children’s Fund, (UNICEF) and other multilateral donor agencies released funds to many developing nations including Nigeria, to enable her improve her sorry health record.
So, four years, more to the target year of 2015, how far has Nigeria gone in reducing infant maternal mortality? The statistics are truly frightening. In Nigeria, maternal mortality ratio is about 1,100 deaths per 100,000 live births when juxtaposed with developed nations like Japan, Germany, Spain, Canada, Italy, United Kingdom and the United States.
In 2007, a report on Integrated Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Strategy by the Federal Ministry of Health, revealed that Nigeria loses 2,300 under-five-year old and 145 women of child bearing age daily.
According to Professor Jackson Omene, a neonatologist, Nigeria has one of the worst records in maternal and child mortality in the world.
“Nigeria is one of the worst countries to have a baby. Child bearing in most rural areas of the country is a dangerous gamble. Most maternal deaths take place at home after unsupervised deliveries,” he lamented.
So, what, indeed, is responsible for the alarming upsurge of infant and maternal mortality rate in Nigeria? Prof. Omene itemised the factors as “lack of skilled birth attendants, poor basic healthcare facilities, government’s inability to close economic gaps, low female literacy rates and acute shortage of health professionals.”
In the course of his campaign for the governorship of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, a medical doctor, came across a report that showed that infant maternal mortality was high in Ondo State. So, he dutifully commissioned a study on the causes of high maternal and child mortality in the state.
The report showed that the following factors were responsible for the increase in infant maternal mortality in Ondo State: delay in seeking care when complications arise, reaching care when decisions are made, assessing care on arrival at healthcare facilities and referring care from where it is initiated to where it can be completed.
Mimiko’s response to the report was officially unveiled nine months after he was sworn in as governor of the state, with the launch of the Mother and Child Hospital on 28 October, 2009. The hospital, located at Oke-Aro, Akure, is encapsulated under Mimiko’s home-grown Abiye Safe Motherhood Programme also known as Abiye Plus.
The Oke-Aro model, due to its widely acclaimed success, is to be replicated in Ondo, with another also in Akure.
How does the Mother and Child Hospital operate? Treatment for pregnant women, including children under five years is free. Currently, the Mother and Child Hospital, Akure, records an average of 25 deliveries daily. And because it is free, modestly safe to deliver a child, equipped with modern facilities,; run by experienced and well-trained medical personnel—paediatricians, gynaecologists, pharmacists, midwives and nurses, over 20 per cent of its patients are from outside the state.
In 18 months, the Mother and Child Hospital, anchored on the plank of the Abiye Safe Motherhood Programme, which accentuate that “pregnancy is not a death sentence,” has treated 31,000 patients and safely delivered 9,879 babies out of which 1,224 were by caesarian session.
Remarkably though, the World Bank has officially listed the Ondo State Abiye Safe Motherhood Programme on its website as one of the effective health programmes in Africa, specifically for its salutary impact in reducing infant and maternal mortality in concert with the objective of the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5.
With dwindling state resources and taking into cognisance the N18,000 minimum wage as well as development projects competing for available funds, how has Governor Mimiko contrived to sustain the Mother and Child Hospital? The study the governor earlier commissioned recommended a child-based financing model.
From empirical data, the cost of caring for a pregnant woman after she has been admitted up to a few days after she has been delivered of her baby is N6,000. However, the state government is currently looking at how it can reduce the cost to N4,500 and further to N3,500 without compromising its standard and quality.
Impressed with the success so far attained by the Mother and Child Hospital, the World Bank has chosen Ondo and two other states in Nigeria for a result-based financing in pursuance of its infant and maternal mortality reduction scheme in Africa.
To enable the state have a reliable database for continued planning, the Ondo State House of Assembly passed Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Death law, which makes it mandatory for all health facilities in the state to report any maternal death when it occurs.
The government is keen to know the facilities that pregnant women who died in the course of child birth were denied before their death and to encourage compliance with the law, there will be no punishment for those whose health centres lacked facilities that eventually led to the death of any pregnant woman during childbirth. However, failure to report the death of any pregnant woman during childbirth will be regarded as a breach of the law.
Without doubt, the Ondo State Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Death Law will challenge healthcare providers to upgrade their facilities so as not to be seen as veritable slaughter houses due to their gloomy records in swelling the morbid chamber of infant maternal mortality.
Ultimately, the quality of the Mother and Child Hospital, its accessibility and affordability will send quacks scampering from the state for lack of patronage since no pregnant woman will deliberately put her life and that of her unborn child at risk by patronising devious hands of an unqualified health attendant in a healthcare centre that is diametrically antithetic to what it professes to be.
•Nath Omame, jR. is the Editor of Pax Herbal Medicine
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/premature-deaths-unacceptable-says-chukwu/
Expectedly, in Nigeria, politicians, government officials, healthcare providers, counsellors, non-government organisations (NGOs) and the civil society latched on the latest refrain: Millennium Development Goals.
Instructively, the MDGs are eight in all. They are MDG-1, reducing extreme poverty; MDG-2, universal primary education; MDG-3, gender and women empowerment; MDG-4, reduction of child mortality; MDG-5, reduction of maternal mortality; MDG-6, combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases; MDG-7, environmental sustainability and MDG-8, developing global partnership for development.
The World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nation’s Children’s Fund, (UNICEF) and other multilateral donor agencies released funds to many developing nations including Nigeria, to enable her improve her sorry health record.
So, four years, more to the target year of 2015, how far has Nigeria gone in reducing infant maternal mortality? The statistics are truly frightening. In Nigeria, maternal mortality ratio is about 1,100 deaths per 100,000 live births when juxtaposed with developed nations like Japan, Germany, Spain, Canada, Italy, United Kingdom and the United States.
In 2007, a report on Integrated Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Strategy by the Federal Ministry of Health, revealed that Nigeria loses 2,300 under-five-year old and 145 women of child bearing age daily.
According to Professor Jackson Omene, a neonatologist, Nigeria has one of the worst records in maternal and child mortality in the world.
“Nigeria is one of the worst countries to have a baby. Child bearing in most rural areas of the country is a dangerous gamble. Most maternal deaths take place at home after unsupervised deliveries,” he lamented.
So, what, indeed, is responsible for the alarming upsurge of infant and maternal mortality rate in Nigeria? Prof. Omene itemised the factors as “lack of skilled birth attendants, poor basic healthcare facilities, government’s inability to close economic gaps, low female literacy rates and acute shortage of health professionals.”
In the course of his campaign for the governorship of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, a medical doctor, came across a report that showed that infant maternal mortality was high in Ondo State. So, he dutifully commissioned a study on the causes of high maternal and child mortality in the state.
The report showed that the following factors were responsible for the increase in infant maternal mortality in Ondo State: delay in seeking care when complications arise, reaching care when decisions are made, assessing care on arrival at healthcare facilities and referring care from where it is initiated to where it can be completed.
Mimiko’s response to the report was officially unveiled nine months after he was sworn in as governor of the state, with the launch of the Mother and Child Hospital on 28 October, 2009. The hospital, located at Oke-Aro, Akure, is encapsulated under Mimiko’s home-grown Abiye Safe Motherhood Programme also known as Abiye Plus.
The Oke-Aro model, due to its widely acclaimed success, is to be replicated in Ondo, with another also in Akure.
How does the Mother and Child Hospital operate? Treatment for pregnant women, including children under five years is free. Currently, the Mother and Child Hospital, Akure, records an average of 25 deliveries daily. And because it is free, modestly safe to deliver a child, equipped with modern facilities,; run by experienced and well-trained medical personnel—paediatricians, gynaecologists, pharmacists, midwives and nurses, over 20 per cent of its patients are from outside the state.
In 18 months, the Mother and Child Hospital, anchored on the plank of the Abiye Safe Motherhood Programme, which accentuate that “pregnancy is not a death sentence,” has treated 31,000 patients and safely delivered 9,879 babies out of which 1,224 were by caesarian session.
Remarkably though, the World Bank has officially listed the Ondo State Abiye Safe Motherhood Programme on its website as one of the effective health programmes in Africa, specifically for its salutary impact in reducing infant and maternal mortality in concert with the objective of the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5.
With dwindling state resources and taking into cognisance the N18,000 minimum wage as well as development projects competing for available funds, how has Governor Mimiko contrived to sustain the Mother and Child Hospital? The study the governor earlier commissioned recommended a child-based financing model.
From empirical data, the cost of caring for a pregnant woman after she has been admitted up to a few days after she has been delivered of her baby is N6,000. However, the state government is currently looking at how it can reduce the cost to N4,500 and further to N3,500 without compromising its standard and quality.
Impressed with the success so far attained by the Mother and Child Hospital, the World Bank has chosen Ondo and two other states in Nigeria for a result-based financing in pursuance of its infant and maternal mortality reduction scheme in Africa.
To enable the state have a reliable database for continued planning, the Ondo State House of Assembly passed Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Death law, which makes it mandatory for all health facilities in the state to report any maternal death when it occurs.
The government is keen to know the facilities that pregnant women who died in the course of child birth were denied before their death and to encourage compliance with the law, there will be no punishment for those whose health centres lacked facilities that eventually led to the death of any pregnant woman during childbirth. However, failure to report the death of any pregnant woman during childbirth will be regarded as a breach of the law.
Without doubt, the Ondo State Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Death Law will challenge healthcare providers to upgrade their facilities so as not to be seen as veritable slaughter houses due to their gloomy records in swelling the morbid chamber of infant maternal mortality.
Ultimately, the quality of the Mother and Child Hospital, its accessibility and affordability will send quacks scampering from the state for lack of patronage since no pregnant woman will deliberately put her life and that of her unborn child at risk by patronising devious hands of an unqualified health attendant in a healthcare centre that is diametrically antithetic to what it professes to be.
•Nath Omame, jR. is the Editor of Pax Herbal Medicine
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/premature-deaths-unacceptable-says-chukwu/
Born to suffer: Sad story of LUTH’s abandoned children
Written by Muda Oyeniran
Muda Oyeniran was at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital where he met with these children, abandoned by their own family members. His report.
While some children, irrespective of disability and circumstance of their birth are pampered and loved by their parents, some others would have wished that they were never born. This category are those that have been rejected and abandoned by the same people that brought them into this world. The latter depicts the fate of some children at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital(LUTH), Idi- Araba who have never seen their parents before or experienced what parental care is all about.
Most of these children, who were probably rejected by their biological parents due to one disability or the other now live at the mercy of the nurses at LUTH who have by fate become their fathers and mothers. Aside this, some good Samaritans also offer one form of assistance to these unfortunate children.
For 13-year old Chineye Ogbonna, a native of Arachuckwu, Imo State, who was brought to the children ward of LUTH by his maternal grandfather on December 26, 2008 due to severe pain in his hunchback, he has never seen his father since he was born while his mother is late. Unfortunately for him, his grandfather who brought him never showed up at the hospital since then.
According to Chineye, his grandfather by the name Alloy Okoro, who he claimed worked in Radio Nigeria, brought him to LUTH from the Lord of Chosen Church, Okokomaiko, where he was taken for spiritual help after he could not walk after suffering pain in his hunchback for six months.
“Ever since my grandfather brought me here, he has never come back to see me. I don’t even know whether anybody is aware that I am here”, he added.
Confirming Chineye’s claim, Mrs Olubunmi Sobogun, a Chief Nursing Officer at the Children’s Ward told the Nigerian Tribune that Chineye’s grandfather, who brought him, gave the hospital a wrong address making it difficult for the hospital’s social workers to be able to locate him. “He also gave us a wrong phone number so there was no way we could reach him. So it was the boy that told us that he was actually abandoned at Lord of Chosen Church, Okokomaiko”, she added
Speaking on his health condition, Sobogun said the boy was diagnosed with Tuberculosis(TB) Spine leading to his inability to walk. However, she said the boy began to walk after he was treated at the hospital for one month.
He is also currently enjoying the magnanimity of LUTH’s management as the hospital has enrolled him at the University of Lagos Staff School. According to him, he is currently in Primary 3.
The case of three-year old Ogechi Obiakor, who was abandoned by her mother about a year ago, was particularly dramatic. Her mother who is an HIV positive patient abandoned her at the HIV clinic in LUTH on December 23, 2010 after she complained that her baby was having diarrhea, vomiting and fever.” The mother ran away after she pretended to go and buy drugs prescribed by the doctor. We have not seen her since then. She gave the name of Ogechi’s father as Erobi Maghdalene. Surprisingly, Ogechi is HIV-negative. We have run the test on her a couple of times and she has proved to be negative”, she added.
If Chineye and Ogechi’s case is disheartening, then the case of David (named by LUTH) is pathetic as he was found abandoned by an unknown person and picked by somebody at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos (CMUL) gate on September 10 last year. David cannot talk, walk or even crawl. He is estimated to be about two years-old. Nurses said he is suffering from a brain disease known as cerebral palsy.
At children Ward D3, one would also be moved to tears to see “abandoned Samuel” and “abandoned Abodunrin” the helplessly. While the former was picked by good Samaritans behind the LUTH’s mortuary on May 26, 2006 the latter’s mother abandoned her at the paediatric outpatient section on December 10, 2007 on the pretext that she was going to get something for the poor girl.
According to the Chief Nursing Officer at the ward, Mrs Grace Adeleke, the two children were suffering from cerebral palsy(brain damage) adding that they could not do anything on their own. “They cannot talk, feed, sit. We bathe them, barb their hairs and we feed them through the nose(nasogastric tube); we give them total nursing care. The names “Samuel” and “Abodunrin” were given to them at LUTH.
http://www.tribune.com.ng/index.php/features/31190-born-to-suffer-sad-story-of-luths-abandoned-children
Muda Oyeniran was at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital where he met with these children, abandoned by their own family members. His report.
While some children, irrespective of disability and circumstance of their birth are pampered and loved by their parents, some others would have wished that they were never born. This category are those that have been rejected and abandoned by the same people that brought them into this world. The latter depicts the fate of some children at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital(LUTH), Idi- Araba who have never seen their parents before or experienced what parental care is all about.
Most of these children, who were probably rejected by their biological parents due to one disability or the other now live at the mercy of the nurses at LUTH who have by fate become their fathers and mothers. Aside this, some good Samaritans also offer one form of assistance to these unfortunate children.
For 13-year old Chineye Ogbonna, a native of Arachuckwu, Imo State, who was brought to the children ward of LUTH by his maternal grandfather on December 26, 2008 due to severe pain in his hunchback, he has never seen his father since he was born while his mother is late. Unfortunately for him, his grandfather who brought him never showed up at the hospital since then.
According to Chineye, his grandfather by the name Alloy Okoro, who he claimed worked in Radio Nigeria, brought him to LUTH from the Lord of Chosen Church, Okokomaiko, where he was taken for spiritual help after he could not walk after suffering pain in his hunchback for six months.
“Ever since my grandfather brought me here, he has never come back to see me. I don’t even know whether anybody is aware that I am here”, he added.
Confirming Chineye’s claim, Mrs Olubunmi Sobogun, a Chief Nursing Officer at the Children’s Ward told the Nigerian Tribune that Chineye’s grandfather, who brought him, gave the hospital a wrong address making it difficult for the hospital’s social workers to be able to locate him. “He also gave us a wrong phone number so there was no way we could reach him. So it was the boy that told us that he was actually abandoned at Lord of Chosen Church, Okokomaiko”, she added
Speaking on his health condition, Sobogun said the boy was diagnosed with Tuberculosis(TB) Spine leading to his inability to walk. However, she said the boy began to walk after he was treated at the hospital for one month.
He is also currently enjoying the magnanimity of LUTH’s management as the hospital has enrolled him at the University of Lagos Staff School. According to him, he is currently in Primary 3.
The case of three-year old Ogechi Obiakor, who was abandoned by her mother about a year ago, was particularly dramatic. Her mother who is an HIV positive patient abandoned her at the HIV clinic in LUTH on December 23, 2010 after she complained that her baby was having diarrhea, vomiting and fever.” The mother ran away after she pretended to go and buy drugs prescribed by the doctor. We have not seen her since then. She gave the name of Ogechi’s father as Erobi Maghdalene. Surprisingly, Ogechi is HIV-negative. We have run the test on her a couple of times and she has proved to be negative”, she added.
If Chineye and Ogechi’s case is disheartening, then the case of David (named by LUTH) is pathetic as he was found abandoned by an unknown person and picked by somebody at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos (CMUL) gate on September 10 last year. David cannot talk, walk or even crawl. He is estimated to be about two years-old. Nurses said he is suffering from a brain disease known as cerebral palsy.
At children Ward D3, one would also be moved to tears to see “abandoned Samuel” and “abandoned Abodunrin” the helplessly. While the former was picked by good Samaritans behind the LUTH’s mortuary on May 26, 2006 the latter’s mother abandoned her at the paediatric outpatient section on December 10, 2007 on the pretext that she was going to get something for the poor girl.
According to the Chief Nursing Officer at the ward, Mrs Grace Adeleke, the two children were suffering from cerebral palsy(brain damage) adding that they could not do anything on their own. “They cannot talk, feed, sit. We bathe them, barb their hairs and we feed them through the nose(nasogastric tube); we give them total nursing care. The names “Samuel” and “Abodunrin” were given to them at LUTH.
http://www.tribune.com.ng/index.php/features/31190-born-to-suffer-sad-story-of-luths-abandoned-children
Funmi Ogundare
Former United Kingdom Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown, has expressed regret that it might be impossible to achieve the Millennium, Development Goals (MDGs) on education. He, however, said it was possible to cut infant mortality by half.
Brown, who made this known, while speaking at the closing plenary session, Monday, at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), in Doha, Qatar, said the world was too far away from achieving that.
According to him, "We know tragically it's impossible, despite all the changes, to change a situation where 350,000 mothers are dying each year from maternal mortality. It will not change quickly enough even if the figures go down, to meet that Millennium Development Goal. We know we have not achieved the Millennium Development Goal on gender equality."
He emphasised the need for policy change by the governments and that everyone should be mobilised towards achieving the goals by 2015.
"We must hold national governments to their promises to provide the funding both in development aid, and of course the funding that individual developing countries' governments have promised for education in their own areas. Where countries fall behind, we should be telling them that this is not acceptable because it is not simply about them and their generation - it is about future generations," he stressed.
He emphasised need for governments to create a global fund for education, just the same way there is for health, that has made enormous advances in tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, vaccinations, as well as polio and malaria.
The Prime Minister opined that this will allow people in the private sector and the public sector, philanthropists and charitable organisations, private companies to affiliate and make possible a focus for momentum to 2015.
Brown enjoined all technology companies such as Microsoft, Apples, Facebooks, and Googles, to be involved in this project so that information, knowledge and educational materials, can get to the poor countries, saying: "We need to make sure that modern technologies get to the poorest countries to access information."
http://allafrica.com/stories/201111080308.html
Former United Kingdom Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown, has expressed regret that it might be impossible to achieve the Millennium, Development Goals (MDGs) on education. He, however, said it was possible to cut infant mortality by half.
Brown, who made this known, while speaking at the closing plenary session, Monday, at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), in Doha, Qatar, said the world was too far away from achieving that.
According to him, "We know tragically it's impossible, despite all the changes, to change a situation where 350,000 mothers are dying each year from maternal mortality. It will not change quickly enough even if the figures go down, to meet that Millennium Development Goal. We know we have not achieved the Millennium Development Goal on gender equality."
He emphasised the need for policy change by the governments and that everyone should be mobilised towards achieving the goals by 2015.
"We must hold national governments to their promises to provide the funding both in development aid, and of course the funding that individual developing countries' governments have promised for education in their own areas. Where countries fall behind, we should be telling them that this is not acceptable because it is not simply about them and their generation - it is about future generations," he stressed.
He emphasised need for governments to create a global fund for education, just the same way there is for health, that has made enormous advances in tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, vaccinations, as well as polio and malaria.
The Prime Minister opined that this will allow people in the private sector and the public sector, philanthropists and charitable organisations, private companies to affiliate and make possible a focus for momentum to 2015.
Brown enjoined all technology companies such as Microsoft, Apples, Facebooks, and Googles, to be involved in this project so that information, knowledge and educational materials, can get to the poor countries, saying: "We need to make sure that modern technologies get to the poorest countries to access information."
http://allafrica.com/stories/201111080308.html
The Issue is Still Quality of Life
Kayode.Komolafe@thisdaylive.com
As the nation confronts the spectre of insecurity with bomb blasts and heavy death tolls frequently reported, the focus should still be kept on another central issue of governance at all levels. Here we are not talking of monumental distractions such as the matters of legislating against same sex marriage and kicking against the institution of Islamic banking. A lot of heat is generated by the controversy trailing these other topics. The time and energy so dissipated on the distractions should have been better concentrated on the issue of how to manage the economy effectively such that a good mix of policies would lead to improvement in the quality of life of the people.
Perhaps, if the same passion demonstrated on the sentimental issues had been invested in anti-poverty politics the content of governance would have been richer to the benefit of the people. Incidentally, most of the informed analyses of the increasingly worrisome security situation seek to establish an interplay of factors between insecurity and the depreciation in the quality of life in the land.
Whether all the bombings are done by Boko Haram alone or some other criminal groups are hiding under the canopy of Boko Haram to commit mass murders, the issue of worsening poverty is a factor to consider in drawing up a broad strategy of national security. It is important to keep the matter of the quality of life in sharp focus so that those responsible for governance would be constantly reminded that their primary responsibility is to give leadership in the collective efforts to improve the poor condition of the people.
For instance, the 2011 Mo Ibrahim Index of Governance released recently is no good news in Nigeria. The country is ranked 41st out of 53 African countries. Even within the West African sub-region, Nigeria is in the 13th position of the 16 countries under review. Among the indicators considered by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation in the exercise were access to potable water, sanitation, completion of primary education, student-teacher ratio, immunisation and maternal mortality.
Understandably, ranking has been dismissed in some respected quarters as not being truly reflective of the Nigerian condition. Not a few were particularly piqued by the better ratings of some countries that on the face of it would be regarded as less developed than Nigeria. In fact, some of them only recently recovered from wars and crisis. The population of this country was also cited as a huge challenge.
It is, therefore, intriguing that this year’s Human Development Index (HDI) released last Wednesday appears to be a confirmation of the Mo Ibrahim Index in the assessment of the quality of life in Nigeria in a global context. It is also interesting that some African countries such as Mauritius, South Africa and Libya ranked higher than Nigeria in the Mo Ibrahim Index are also well above Nigeria in the UNDP’s index of human development
Now, HDI is released yearly by the United Nations Development Programme, while the Mo Ibrahim Index is strictly an African initiative solely financed by a businessman, Mo Ibrahim, of Sudanese origins. In computing this year’s global index, countries were ranked on the basis of life expectance, income and education. The indicators used were similar to the ones employed by the yearly Mo Ibrahim Index.
Out of the 187 countries assessed, Nigeria is ranked 156th. This country is ranked low particularly in education and income. For instance, on the average it is estimated that the highest number of years for schooling by the Nigerian child is only 8.9. It is hardly debatable that health, education and national wealth are central to development efforts aimed at improving the quality of life of the people. The import of the latest global index is that these issues associated with quality of life should be top most on development agenda.
On a larger note, the 2011 Human Development Report entitled “Sustainability and Equity: A better Life For All” bears a special relevance to the Nigerian situation. The issues of sustainability and equity are separately at the centre of this nation’s developmental debacle. The important thing about this year’s report is that a link is established between the two issues in a manner that is worth pondering by the policymakers and other forces in the society alike. In the report, a case is made for synergy of environmental sustainability with equity like this :
“This year we explore the intersections between environmental sustainability and equity, which are fundamentally similar in their concern for distributive justice. We value sustainability because future generations should have at least the same possibilities as people today. Similarly, all inequitable processes are unjust: people’s chances at better lives should not be constrained by factors outside their control. Inequalities are especially unjust when particular groups, whether because of gender, race or birthplace, are systematically disadvantaged”.
A lot is instructive about the global index for the purpose of policy. Norway, Netherland and Australia are ranked to be leaders in human development. Yet, they cannot be said to be the leading capitalist nations using other indices of economic growth. However, in this case, the verdict is simply that the mix of policies in those countries ensures a more equitable wealth distribution, quality education and better healthcare delivery.
With an index like, the job of the economic management team coordinated by the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is doubtless a crucial one in the circumstance. The potency of the strategy that the team is putting together will ultimately be measured by how much quality of life is improved by the policies implemented. The issue of quality of life is also eminently suitable as a distillation of the various themes of the Economic Summit, which kicks off tomorrow in Abuja.
Views From Abroad
Barbaric
The indiscriminate slaughter of over 100 innocent people on Friday in the northern Nigerian town of Damaturu by a group claiming to be Muslim was barbaric.
The group that has claimed responsibility, Boko Haram, appears intent on becoming the new Al-Qaeda. It stands for a total rejection of the West in any form and is becoming both increasingly ambitious in its objectives and successful in its targets. It has already carried out many atrocities including the Aug. 26 suicide attack at the UN offices in the capital Abuja which killed 24. It is now said by the US Embassy in Nigeria to be planning to attack hotels in the city.
Boko Haram means, “Western education is haram.” But the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Go in search on knowledge, even to China.” That means anywhere and everywhere. Boko Haram's philosophy is fundamentally at odds with the Prophet's teachings and therefore with Islam.
The West is part of the world. Where there is knowledge to be gained from it (and from anywhere else), it must be grasped with enthusiasm. Muslims are proud of the role the world of Islam has played in the development of mankind's knowledge and science. But where would we be today without all the inventions that have come from the West in the last hundred years — cars, aircraft, television, radio, computers, the Internet, agricultural technology, medical advances and so much more? It is, moreover noticeable that those who so adamantly reject the West do not reject its inventions and ideas. That is hypocrisy. They forget too that in the West, and in Western education, Muslims play a growing role.
We could, then, respond to the repulsive actions of Boko Haram by fulminating against its ignorance of Islam and of reality. It is easy to point out errors, easy to condemn, especially from afar. The far more important issue is this: Why are there people so alienated in northern Nigeria that they are prepared to attack police stations and kill their neighbors? In Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Taleban are held responsible for the murderous militancy that has resulted in suicide bombings and attacks that have killed thousands of people. But the Taleban are primarily a vehicle that channels local and tribal resentment of the presence of Western troops and a central government aligned with them.
Is it the same in northern Nigeria? There is certainly alienation and militancy in the oil fields of the main Christian Niger delta region in the south over the lack of jobs and investment. If alienation in the north has been hijacked by militants preaching a warped version of Islam, that can be rectified in part by sound teaching. But that will not deal with the fundamental issues of economic deprivation.
There is already reason to believe it is at the root of Nigeria's bloody rivalries between Muslims and Christians.
The Nigerian government says it intends to crack down on Boko Haram. It will have to — so far it has totally failed to face up to the threat from the movement. But doing so is unlikely to end the discontent in the far north without also doing something to improve the lives of the people there.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/the-issue-is-still-quality-of-life/102403/
As the nation confronts the spectre of insecurity with bomb blasts and heavy death tolls frequently reported, the focus should still be kept on another central issue of governance at all levels. Here we are not talking of monumental distractions such as the matters of legislating against same sex marriage and kicking against the institution of Islamic banking. A lot of heat is generated by the controversy trailing these other topics. The time and energy so dissipated on the distractions should have been better concentrated on the issue of how to manage the economy effectively such that a good mix of policies would lead to improvement in the quality of life of the people.
Perhaps, if the same passion demonstrated on the sentimental issues had been invested in anti-poverty politics the content of governance would have been richer to the benefit of the people. Incidentally, most of the informed analyses of the increasingly worrisome security situation seek to establish an interplay of factors between insecurity and the depreciation in the quality of life in the land.
Whether all the bombings are done by Boko Haram alone or some other criminal groups are hiding under the canopy of Boko Haram to commit mass murders, the issue of worsening poverty is a factor to consider in drawing up a broad strategy of national security. It is important to keep the matter of the quality of life in sharp focus so that those responsible for governance would be constantly reminded that their primary responsibility is to give leadership in the collective efforts to improve the poor condition of the people.
For instance, the 2011 Mo Ibrahim Index of Governance released recently is no good news in Nigeria. The country is ranked 41st out of 53 African countries. Even within the West African sub-region, Nigeria is in the 13th position of the 16 countries under review. Among the indicators considered by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation in the exercise were access to potable water, sanitation, completion of primary education, student-teacher ratio, immunisation and maternal mortality.
Understandably, ranking has been dismissed in some respected quarters as not being truly reflective of the Nigerian condition. Not a few were particularly piqued by the better ratings of some countries that on the face of it would be regarded as less developed than Nigeria. In fact, some of them only recently recovered from wars and crisis. The population of this country was also cited as a huge challenge.
It is, therefore, intriguing that this year’s Human Development Index (HDI) released last Wednesday appears to be a confirmation of the Mo Ibrahim Index in the assessment of the quality of life in Nigeria in a global context. It is also interesting that some African countries such as Mauritius, South Africa and Libya ranked higher than Nigeria in the Mo Ibrahim Index are also well above Nigeria in the UNDP’s index of human development
Now, HDI is released yearly by the United Nations Development Programme, while the Mo Ibrahim Index is strictly an African initiative solely financed by a businessman, Mo Ibrahim, of Sudanese origins. In computing this year’s global index, countries were ranked on the basis of life expectance, income and education. The indicators used were similar to the ones employed by the yearly Mo Ibrahim Index.
Out of the 187 countries assessed, Nigeria is ranked 156th. This country is ranked low particularly in education and income. For instance, on the average it is estimated that the highest number of years for schooling by the Nigerian child is only 8.9. It is hardly debatable that health, education and national wealth are central to development efforts aimed at improving the quality of life of the people. The import of the latest global index is that these issues associated with quality of life should be top most on development agenda.
On a larger note, the 2011 Human Development Report entitled “Sustainability and Equity: A better Life For All” bears a special relevance to the Nigerian situation. The issues of sustainability and equity are separately at the centre of this nation’s developmental debacle. The important thing about this year’s report is that a link is established between the two issues in a manner that is worth pondering by the policymakers and other forces in the society alike. In the report, a case is made for synergy of environmental sustainability with equity like this :
“This year we explore the intersections between environmental sustainability and equity, which are fundamentally similar in their concern for distributive justice. We value sustainability because future generations should have at least the same possibilities as people today. Similarly, all inequitable processes are unjust: people’s chances at better lives should not be constrained by factors outside their control. Inequalities are especially unjust when particular groups, whether because of gender, race or birthplace, are systematically disadvantaged”.
A lot is instructive about the global index for the purpose of policy. Norway, Netherland and Australia are ranked to be leaders in human development. Yet, they cannot be said to be the leading capitalist nations using other indices of economic growth. However, in this case, the verdict is simply that the mix of policies in those countries ensures a more equitable wealth distribution, quality education and better healthcare delivery.
With an index like, the job of the economic management team coordinated by the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is doubtless a crucial one in the circumstance. The potency of the strategy that the team is putting together will ultimately be measured by how much quality of life is improved by the policies implemented. The issue of quality of life is also eminently suitable as a distillation of the various themes of the Economic Summit, which kicks off tomorrow in Abuja.
Views From Abroad
Barbaric
The indiscriminate slaughter of over 100 innocent people on Friday in the northern Nigerian town of Damaturu by a group claiming to be Muslim was barbaric.
The group that has claimed responsibility, Boko Haram, appears intent on becoming the new Al-Qaeda. It stands for a total rejection of the West in any form and is becoming both increasingly ambitious in its objectives and successful in its targets. It has already carried out many atrocities including the Aug. 26 suicide attack at the UN offices in the capital Abuja which killed 24. It is now said by the US Embassy in Nigeria to be planning to attack hotels in the city.
Boko Haram means, “Western education is haram.” But the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Go in search on knowledge, even to China.” That means anywhere and everywhere. Boko Haram's philosophy is fundamentally at odds with the Prophet's teachings and therefore with Islam.
The West is part of the world. Where there is knowledge to be gained from it (and from anywhere else), it must be grasped with enthusiasm. Muslims are proud of the role the world of Islam has played in the development of mankind's knowledge and science. But where would we be today without all the inventions that have come from the West in the last hundred years — cars, aircraft, television, radio, computers, the Internet, agricultural technology, medical advances and so much more? It is, moreover noticeable that those who so adamantly reject the West do not reject its inventions and ideas. That is hypocrisy. They forget too that in the West, and in Western education, Muslims play a growing role.
We could, then, respond to the repulsive actions of Boko Haram by fulminating against its ignorance of Islam and of reality. It is easy to point out errors, easy to condemn, especially from afar. The far more important issue is this: Why are there people so alienated in northern Nigeria that they are prepared to attack police stations and kill their neighbors? In Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Taleban are held responsible for the murderous militancy that has resulted in suicide bombings and attacks that have killed thousands of people. But the Taleban are primarily a vehicle that channels local and tribal resentment of the presence of Western troops and a central government aligned with them.
Is it the same in northern Nigeria? There is certainly alienation and militancy in the oil fields of the main Christian Niger delta region in the south over the lack of jobs and investment. If alienation in the north has been hijacked by militants preaching a warped version of Islam, that can be rectified in part by sound teaching. But that will not deal with the fundamental issues of economic deprivation.
There is already reason to believe it is at the root of Nigeria's bloody rivalries between Muslims and Christians.
The Nigerian government says it intends to crack down on Boko Haram. It will have to — so far it has totally failed to face up to the threat from the movement. But doing so is unlikely to end the discontent in the far north without also doing something to improve the lives of the people there.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/the-issue-is-still-quality-of-life/102403/
Chukwu says palliatives from fuel subsidy removal will favour health
By SOLA OGUNDIPE
Health will feature prominently on the list of palliatives to emerge next year from the proposed fuel subsidy removal by Federal government.
Also, when the National Health Bill eventually becomes law, it is expected to bring additional funding to the tune of N55 billion to the health sector.
Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu who made these revelations last week in Calabar, Cross River State, during a conference tagged “Improving Financial Access to Health Services for the Poor in Nigeria” observed that health constitutes three of five safety nets to emanate from the fuel subsidy removal being contemplated by government.
In a chat with Good Health Weekly, Chukwu, said: “We are talking of safety nets and one of this is to provide maternal health through the conditional cash transfer, where we encourage mothers to bring their children and husbands to health facilities for treatment and when they do that ,we encourage them through small scale empowerment.
“The second safety net is on improved school feeding, because nutrition is a national problem and in the effort to improve Millennium Development Goal 4, nutrition must be improved.
“We need to subsidise and supplement school children nutrition because it has been proved that if children don’t have good nutrition, their brains will not develop optimally and since they are going to rule this country in future, then they must be well fed now. Third is the insurance for maternal health. These are the three, so health will be addressed. Other safety nets are for education,the microcredit scheme and transportation.”
On the National Health Bill, Chukwu said it was an effort to provide something that would enable health care access by the less privileged. “Whatever we are thinking must be sustainable and how we can develop taxation system in the country.
Federal government is ensuring that all those who should pay tax are doing so, we have started on that through the Federal Inland Revenue Service. If we get that right, then we will come down to others.” He said the option of pure taxation was feasible in providing health coverage even without the formal insurance scheme currently in place.
“Once the National Health Bill becomes law, it would bring additional funds to the health sector. This is to be spent at the level of primary healthcare because it will establish what will be known as the National Primary Healthcare Development Fund, funded through the Federal-owned share of the Federation account which will pay 5 percent
“It is not so much money, but would anount to about N50-55 billion adding about 2 percent extra funding to health from the Federation account.” He said going by the 2011 budget, it means the health sector may enjoy 7.5 percent which will be an improvement on what currently prevails. “It is not up to the 15 percent people are agitating for but will be an improvement.”
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/chukwu-says-palliatives-from-fuel-subsidy-removal-will-favour-health/
Health will feature prominently on the list of palliatives to emerge next year from the proposed fuel subsidy removal by Federal government.
Also, when the National Health Bill eventually becomes law, it is expected to bring additional funding to the tune of N55 billion to the health sector.
Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu who made these revelations last week in Calabar, Cross River State, during a conference tagged “Improving Financial Access to Health Services for the Poor in Nigeria” observed that health constitutes three of five safety nets to emanate from the fuel subsidy removal being contemplated by government.
In a chat with Good Health Weekly, Chukwu, said: “We are talking of safety nets and one of this is to provide maternal health through the conditional cash transfer, where we encourage mothers to bring their children and husbands to health facilities for treatment and when they do that ,we encourage them through small scale empowerment.
“The second safety net is on improved school feeding, because nutrition is a national problem and in the effort to improve Millennium Development Goal 4, nutrition must be improved.
“We need to subsidise and supplement school children nutrition because it has been proved that if children don’t have good nutrition, their brains will not develop optimally and since they are going to rule this country in future, then they must be well fed now. Third is the insurance for maternal health. These are the three, so health will be addressed. Other safety nets are for education,the microcredit scheme and transportation.”
On the National Health Bill, Chukwu said it was an effort to provide something that would enable health care access by the less privileged. “Whatever we are thinking must be sustainable and how we can develop taxation system in the country.
Federal government is ensuring that all those who should pay tax are doing so, we have started on that through the Federal Inland Revenue Service. If we get that right, then we will come down to others.” He said the option of pure taxation was feasible in providing health coverage even without the formal insurance scheme currently in place.
“Once the National Health Bill becomes law, it would bring additional funds to the health sector. This is to be spent at the level of primary healthcare because it will establish what will be known as the National Primary Healthcare Development Fund, funded through the Federal-owned share of the Federation account which will pay 5 percent
“It is not so much money, but would anount to about N50-55 billion adding about 2 percent extra funding to health from the Federation account.” He said going by the 2011 budget, it means the health sector may enjoy 7.5 percent which will be an improvement on what currently prevails. “It is not up to the 15 percent people are agitating for but will be an improvement.”
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/chukwu-says-palliatives-from-fuel-subsidy-removal-will-favour-health/
Development partners score Nigeria low on growth indices
By OLUKOREDE YISHAU
Recent reports by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) show that Nigeria lives below its status as the world’s fifth largest producer, especially with its lower ranking on the Human Development Index, writes Assistant Editor (News) OLUKOREDE YISHAU
Until last Wednesday, an average Nigerian was not expected to live beyond 48 years and some months. Many have died on attaining this age or even before they get to 48. Some of them died because they could not access the best health care they required. Many others were so poor they resorted to self-medication or sought comfort in churches and spiritual homes.
A development expert, Dr. Otive Igbuzor, said: “The fact is that children die every day in Nigeria. The rate is only second to China’s and it is unacceptable.”
But for reasons which centre on slight improvements in the health sector, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said the average Nigerian can now live for 51 years and some months.
The annual Human Development Index, however, painted a grim picture of the prospects for millions of people in some of the world’s poorest nations, including Nigeria, despite its status as the fifth largest oil producer in the world.
The UNDP, in the report published last Wednesday, argued that global development will be stalled, unless countries, such as Nigeria, make bold moves to battle inequality and environmental threats. It observed that deforestation, soil erosion and rising food prices have hit poor populations across the world, widening the gap between developed and underdeveloped countries.
The UNDP Director, Helen Clark, said: “Many disadvantaged people carry a double burden of deprivation. They are more vulnerable to the wider effects of environmental degradation, because of more severe stresses and fewer coping tools. They must also deal with threats to their immediate environment from indoor air pollution, dirty water and unimproved sanitation. Forecasts suggest that continuing failure to reduce the grave environmental risks and deepening social inequalities threatens to slow decades of sustained progress by the world’s poor majority—and even to reverse the global convergence in human development.
“We have a collective responsibility towards the least privileged among us today and in the future around the world—and a moral imperative to ensure that the present is not the enemy of the future.”
Of the 187 countries monitored in the report, Nigeria placed 156 on the UN quality of life index. Last year, Nigeria was placed 142 of 169.
The 2011 report, entitled: “Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All’’, puts Nigeria’s life expectancy at 51.9, below that of Libya 74, Mauritus 73.4, Gabon 62.7 and South Africa 52.8. The life expectancy is calculated by the number of years a newborn infant could expect to live if the prevailing pattern of age specific mortality rates at the time of birth stay the same throughout the infant’s life.
On education, the index on Nigeria shows that the average number of years of schooling received by people from 25 and older is 5.0. The report puts the highest possible years of schooling for a child in the country at 8.9, if the prevailing pattern of age-specific enrolment rates persist throughout the child’s life.
With a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of $2,069, Nigeria lags behind countries, such as Equatorial Guinea, which has its GNI at $17,608, Botswana, with $13,049 and Gabon, with $12,249.
The report, however, has some good news. It shows that extreme poverty has declined in the country, noting that these advances are attributable to improvements in water, sanitation, health and other living standards.
Recent reports on the country have been anything but flattering. The New York-based Centre for Reproductive Rights recently published a report, entitled Broken Promises: Human Rights Accountability and Maternal Deaths. The report said Nigeria has done little to address maternal deaths.
The country also did not fare well in the World Bank’s 2012 World Development Report (WDR) on Gender and Equality. The report was released on September 17. Co-Director WDR Mr Sudhir Shetty said: “In the case of Nigeria, what is observed is that the maternal mortality is still quite high, which is also a big issue in almost all parts of Africa. There is a need for necessary improvement in health care delivery.”
He added: “The second issue is that female farmers have lower yields than their male counterparts and this calls for discussion on the need to improve women’s access to resources through window mechanisms, window access to productive resources, improved technology and education.”
Another World Bank report said the chances of Nigeria meeting the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are slim. The report released at the recently Annual Meeting of the bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) said only four African countries are likely to attain the goals.
The report reads: “Four countries: Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Malawi will likely achieve most of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 or soon thereafter. Despite this success, serious development challenges remain in Africa.”
Development experts believe the country has a lot to do to increase the life expectancy and other indices of development.
Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi said: “We must redouble efforts to improve the human development indices. We must collectively remove poverty, hunger and diseases from the society and thus unleash all potential available for growth and development to achieve the MDGs in Nigeria generally and in our region in particular.’’
For the Senior Special Assistant on MDGs, Hajia Amina Az-Zubair, the answer lies in ensuring that the MDGs are met. She said: “The Millennium Development Goals in Africa hold the promise of saving millions of lives; empowering women, addressing the scourge of illiteracy, hunger and malnutrition; and ensuring that Africa’s children have access to education of good quality and good health care to lead productive lives.”
Her position is shared by the Southwest Regional Coordinator for the Department for International Development (DFID), Mr. Sina Fagbenro-Byron, who said: “The year 2015 is our time frame and we have a pretty vivid idea about the state of welfare of our people. We need to ensure that we begin now to concentrate on real impact that is meaningful and has a transitional effect on our people, especially the poor and vulnerable. We need to be sure that we are counting and measuring the right things, particularly realising that mere budget appropriated, released or in fact budget spent does not automatically translate to improving lives. Our focus should rather be on how our budgeting and spending is affecting robust and meaningful indicators and baselines to help monitor, capture, and report quality results.”
A development expert in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Ibadan, Bolatito Lanre-Abass, said poverty has to be defeated for the country’s development indices to appreciate. She said: “Poverty is also a major cause of maternal mortality, as it prevents many women from getting proper and adequate medical attention due to their inability to afford good antenatal care.”
President of an anti-maternal mortality organisation, Oops I’m Pregnant (OIP), Mrs. Osaze Ebinda , said: “The possibility that something could go wrong makes pregnancy less appealing for many. There is need for government to show greater willingness and enthusiasm to have communication and collaboration with ad hoc health service providers and strive to provide government machinery to reach and serve relatively more deprived areas and people.”
The President, Society of Perinatal Medicine of Nigeria (SOPMON), Prof Godwin Ajayi, said the country is still at the lower rung of the ladder in the attainment of MDGs, particular in prevention of deaths of mother and child during childbirth. He said a lot of women and children are dying from preventable diseases, adding that the country needs to build capacity and improve on infrastructure to address this problem.
Nigeria’s expenditure on public health, which was put at 1.7 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is also considered as a major problem by experts. This reflects on the quality of health care available, a situation which has made many Nigerians seek medical attention overseas.
A former Commissioner for Health in Lagos State, Dr Leke Pitan, condemns the development. He said: “It has become a shame to start sending the sick abroad. There is no health care abroad that is a miracle. Things should be done properly to get result. There are Nigerian experts who are super qualified, but the working environment must be conducive for them to work. If the country wants them back and contribute to the health care delivery system, it should put in place infrastructure. Inadequate infrastructure, adversely affect the sector’s growth.”
For now, the indices are not looking up. Will they at any time soon? May be. May be not.
http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/25613-development-partners-score-nigeria-low-on-growth-indices.html
Recent reports by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) show that Nigeria lives below its status as the world’s fifth largest producer, especially with its lower ranking on the Human Development Index, writes Assistant Editor (News) OLUKOREDE YISHAU
Until last Wednesday, an average Nigerian was not expected to live beyond 48 years and some months. Many have died on attaining this age or even before they get to 48. Some of them died because they could not access the best health care they required. Many others were so poor they resorted to self-medication or sought comfort in churches and spiritual homes.
A development expert, Dr. Otive Igbuzor, said: “The fact is that children die every day in Nigeria. The rate is only second to China’s and it is unacceptable.”
But for reasons which centre on slight improvements in the health sector, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said the average Nigerian can now live for 51 years and some months.
The annual Human Development Index, however, painted a grim picture of the prospects for millions of people in some of the world’s poorest nations, including Nigeria, despite its status as the fifth largest oil producer in the world.
The UNDP, in the report published last Wednesday, argued that global development will be stalled, unless countries, such as Nigeria, make bold moves to battle inequality and environmental threats. It observed that deforestation, soil erosion and rising food prices have hit poor populations across the world, widening the gap between developed and underdeveloped countries.
The UNDP Director, Helen Clark, said: “Many disadvantaged people carry a double burden of deprivation. They are more vulnerable to the wider effects of environmental degradation, because of more severe stresses and fewer coping tools. They must also deal with threats to their immediate environment from indoor air pollution, dirty water and unimproved sanitation. Forecasts suggest that continuing failure to reduce the grave environmental risks and deepening social inequalities threatens to slow decades of sustained progress by the world’s poor majority—and even to reverse the global convergence in human development.
“We have a collective responsibility towards the least privileged among us today and in the future around the world—and a moral imperative to ensure that the present is not the enemy of the future.”
Of the 187 countries monitored in the report, Nigeria placed 156 on the UN quality of life index. Last year, Nigeria was placed 142 of 169.
The 2011 report, entitled: “Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All’’, puts Nigeria’s life expectancy at 51.9, below that of Libya 74, Mauritus 73.4, Gabon 62.7 and South Africa 52.8. The life expectancy is calculated by the number of years a newborn infant could expect to live if the prevailing pattern of age specific mortality rates at the time of birth stay the same throughout the infant’s life.
On education, the index on Nigeria shows that the average number of years of schooling received by people from 25 and older is 5.0. The report puts the highest possible years of schooling for a child in the country at 8.9, if the prevailing pattern of age-specific enrolment rates persist throughout the child’s life.
With a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of $2,069, Nigeria lags behind countries, such as Equatorial Guinea, which has its GNI at $17,608, Botswana, with $13,049 and Gabon, with $12,249.
The report, however, has some good news. It shows that extreme poverty has declined in the country, noting that these advances are attributable to improvements in water, sanitation, health and other living standards.
Recent reports on the country have been anything but flattering. The New York-based Centre for Reproductive Rights recently published a report, entitled Broken Promises: Human Rights Accountability and Maternal Deaths. The report said Nigeria has done little to address maternal deaths.
The country also did not fare well in the World Bank’s 2012 World Development Report (WDR) on Gender and Equality. The report was released on September 17. Co-Director WDR Mr Sudhir Shetty said: “In the case of Nigeria, what is observed is that the maternal mortality is still quite high, which is also a big issue in almost all parts of Africa. There is a need for necessary improvement in health care delivery.”
He added: “The second issue is that female farmers have lower yields than their male counterparts and this calls for discussion on the need to improve women’s access to resources through window mechanisms, window access to productive resources, improved technology and education.”
Another World Bank report said the chances of Nigeria meeting the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are slim. The report released at the recently Annual Meeting of the bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) said only four African countries are likely to attain the goals.
The report reads: “Four countries: Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Malawi will likely achieve most of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 or soon thereafter. Despite this success, serious development challenges remain in Africa.”
Development experts believe the country has a lot to do to increase the life expectancy and other indices of development.
Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi said: “We must redouble efforts to improve the human development indices. We must collectively remove poverty, hunger and diseases from the society and thus unleash all potential available for growth and development to achieve the MDGs in Nigeria generally and in our region in particular.’’
For the Senior Special Assistant on MDGs, Hajia Amina Az-Zubair, the answer lies in ensuring that the MDGs are met. She said: “The Millennium Development Goals in Africa hold the promise of saving millions of lives; empowering women, addressing the scourge of illiteracy, hunger and malnutrition; and ensuring that Africa’s children have access to education of good quality and good health care to lead productive lives.”
Her position is shared by the Southwest Regional Coordinator for the Department for International Development (DFID), Mr. Sina Fagbenro-Byron, who said: “The year 2015 is our time frame and we have a pretty vivid idea about the state of welfare of our people. We need to ensure that we begin now to concentrate on real impact that is meaningful and has a transitional effect on our people, especially the poor and vulnerable. We need to be sure that we are counting and measuring the right things, particularly realising that mere budget appropriated, released or in fact budget spent does not automatically translate to improving lives. Our focus should rather be on how our budgeting and spending is affecting robust and meaningful indicators and baselines to help monitor, capture, and report quality results.”
A development expert in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Ibadan, Bolatito Lanre-Abass, said poverty has to be defeated for the country’s development indices to appreciate. She said: “Poverty is also a major cause of maternal mortality, as it prevents many women from getting proper and adequate medical attention due to their inability to afford good antenatal care.”
President of an anti-maternal mortality organisation, Oops I’m Pregnant (OIP), Mrs. Osaze Ebinda , said: “The possibility that something could go wrong makes pregnancy less appealing for many. There is need for government to show greater willingness and enthusiasm to have communication and collaboration with ad hoc health service providers and strive to provide government machinery to reach and serve relatively more deprived areas and people.”
The President, Society of Perinatal Medicine of Nigeria (SOPMON), Prof Godwin Ajayi, said the country is still at the lower rung of the ladder in the attainment of MDGs, particular in prevention of deaths of mother and child during childbirth. He said a lot of women and children are dying from preventable diseases, adding that the country needs to build capacity and improve on infrastructure to address this problem.
Nigeria’s expenditure on public health, which was put at 1.7 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is also considered as a major problem by experts. This reflects on the quality of health care available, a situation which has made many Nigerians seek medical attention overseas.
A former Commissioner for Health in Lagos State, Dr Leke Pitan, condemns the development. He said: “It has become a shame to start sending the sick abroad. There is no health care abroad that is a miracle. Things should be done properly to get result. There are Nigerian experts who are super qualified, but the working environment must be conducive for them to work. If the country wants them back and contribute to the health care delivery system, it should put in place infrastructure. Inadequate infrastructure, adversely affect the sector’s growth.”
For now, the indices are not looking up. Will they at any time soon? May be. May be not.
http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/25613-development-partners-score-nigeria-low-on-growth-indices.html
FG plans boat ambulances for riverine areas
BY VICTORIA OJEME
ABUJA-Worried by the high incidences of maternal mortality deaths in the country, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina, has spoken of Federal Government’s plans to introduce boat ambulances to serve the riverine communities in the country.
Hajiya Maina said this at a meeting with representatives of the World Bank, led by its Country Director for Nigeria, Marie-fracois- Marie Nelly.
According to the minister, the initiative is part of her ministry’s efforts to reduce maternal mortality deaths by facilitating the emergency transportation of pregnant women, especially in the grass- roots.
She explained that already, three ambulances had been deployed to the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory, adding that each ambulance would serve a general hospital with a cluster of four primary healthcare centres.
She said: “I have noted with keen interest the areas of concerns highlighted by you on your Gender programmes which are mainly focused on education, health, growth and support for women’s empowerment, and I would like to inform you that the Ministry is interested in knowing how you intend to achieve these interventions and is interested in partnering with you.”
Hajiya Maina further solicited the support of the World Bank in reviewing the National Gender Policy in 2012 as well as the articulation of a national framework that will ensure the full implementation of all relevant international instruments and United Nations resolutions.
Speaking earlier, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Marie-fracois- Marie Nelly, said the bank was now set to partner with the Ministry on poverty reduction and wealth creation for Nigerian woman.
“We need to build strategies on key figures. We are here to see that gender mainstreaming is effected across key sectoral areas such as in agriculture, climate change, development of employment and of course, their involvement in politics,” she said.
Also speaking, the Representative of UN Women, Dr. Grace Ongile said UN Women was ready to invest as much as 20 million pounds to strengthen women health care delivery once current data on women and children are made available
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/fg-plans-boat-ambulances-for-riverine-areas/
ABUJA-Worried by the high incidences of maternal mortality deaths in the country, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina, has spoken of Federal Government’s plans to introduce boat ambulances to serve the riverine communities in the country.
Hajiya Maina said this at a meeting with representatives of the World Bank, led by its Country Director for Nigeria, Marie-fracois- Marie Nelly.
According to the minister, the initiative is part of her ministry’s efforts to reduce maternal mortality deaths by facilitating the emergency transportation of pregnant women, especially in the grass- roots.
She explained that already, three ambulances had been deployed to the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory, adding that each ambulance would serve a general hospital with a cluster of four primary healthcare centres.
She said: “I have noted with keen interest the areas of concerns highlighted by you on your Gender programmes which are mainly focused on education, health, growth and support for women’s empowerment, and I would like to inform you that the Ministry is interested in knowing how you intend to achieve these interventions and is interested in partnering with you.”
Hajiya Maina further solicited the support of the World Bank in reviewing the National Gender Policy in 2012 as well as the articulation of a national framework that will ensure the full implementation of all relevant international instruments and United Nations resolutions.
Speaking earlier, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Marie-fracois- Marie Nelly, said the bank was now set to partner with the Ministry on poverty reduction and wealth creation for Nigerian woman.
“We need to build strategies on key figures. We are here to see that gender mainstreaming is effected across key sectoral areas such as in agriculture, climate change, development of employment and of course, their involvement in politics,” she said.
Also speaking, the Representative of UN Women, Dr. Grace Ongile said UN Women was ready to invest as much as 20 million pounds to strengthen women health care delivery once current data on women and children are made available
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/fg-plans-boat-ambulances-for-riverine-areas/
Celebrate Solutions: Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Programs In Nigeria Set The Bar High
In Northern Nigeria, 1 in 23 women will die in pregnancy or childbirth. In fact, 10% of maternal deaths, globally, occur there; and rates of newborn and child mortality are also amongst the highest in the world. In 2008, a consortium of partners, funded by the Department for International Development in the United Kingdom and the State Department of the Norwegian Government, launched a new maternal, newborn and child health program to address this epidemic.
Aimed at improving “the quality and availability of health services including antenatal and postnatal care, safer deliveries, care for newborns and infants, better nutrition, and routine immunization against preventable diseases,” the Partnership for Reviving Routine Immunization in Northern Nigeria, Maternal Newborn and Child Health Initiative (PRRINN-MNCH) continues to have a profound impact on the communities it serves. The initiative, which centers on a population of more than 16 million people in the four northern states of Jigawa, Katsina, Yobe and Zamfara, intends to reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality by 25% as of 2013.
Of the more notable and effective programs, is the ‘body tools’ curriculum. Due to the low literacy rate in Nigeria (over 80% of the women are unable to read), midwives train community health volunteers on a series of hand and body signals, representing eight of the critical symptoms characteristic of a difficult pregnancy or childbirth. In turn, these volunteers often referred to as 'mother’s helpers', then educate the pregnant women in their communities on how to use these signals when they need to communicate that they are experiencing problems delivering.
According to Health Partners International, the lives of 354 at-risk women have been saved from dying in pregnancy and childbirth; 15,000 unintended pregnancies have been prevented due to family planning services; and the deaths of 9,096 children averted due to routine immunization, neonatal and child health services. Additionally, 201,613 mothers had access to obstetric care, with 56,998 deliveries attended by Skilled Birth Attendants, in the last 18 months alone.
Hauwa’u, a 25 year old women who already lost two children during childbirth, attributes the success of her last pregnancy to trained community health worker, Fatsuma, who recognized she was experiencing complications and sent her to the hospital. “When this all happened my husband wasn't home” said Hauwa’u. “Had it not been for the community members and volunteers I don't know what would have happened to me. I could be dead by now. Because of the help they gave me, I survived." Fatsuma, now a champion for family planning, has taken her advocacy a step further by persuading families to create a communal savings arrangement for medical care, to organize corresponding transportation and to identify prospective blood donors.
The PRRINN-MNCH programs, led by Health Partners International, GRID Consulting Nigeria and Save the Children UK, expect to produce even greater results by 2013, with an estimated two million women to receive better maternal health care due to their efforts. "It's not only the volunteers who are transmitting this information, it's the whole community" says Binta, another midwife that trains volunteers in ‘body tools.'
"One person will learn and then ten or twenty people will learn from them."
Watch the video "Making pregnancy and childbirth safe in Nigeria":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddDhFzX8zXw&feature=player_embedded
http://www.healthynewbornnetwork.org/blog/celebrate-solutions-maternal-newborn-and-child-health-programs-nigeria-set-bar-high
Aimed at improving “the quality and availability of health services including antenatal and postnatal care, safer deliveries, care for newborns and infants, better nutrition, and routine immunization against preventable diseases,” the Partnership for Reviving Routine Immunization in Northern Nigeria, Maternal Newborn and Child Health Initiative (PRRINN-MNCH) continues to have a profound impact on the communities it serves. The initiative, which centers on a population of more than 16 million people in the four northern states of Jigawa, Katsina, Yobe and Zamfara, intends to reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality by 25% as of 2013.
Of the more notable and effective programs, is the ‘body tools’ curriculum. Due to the low literacy rate in Nigeria (over 80% of the women are unable to read), midwives train community health volunteers on a series of hand and body signals, representing eight of the critical symptoms characteristic of a difficult pregnancy or childbirth. In turn, these volunteers often referred to as 'mother’s helpers', then educate the pregnant women in their communities on how to use these signals when they need to communicate that they are experiencing problems delivering.
According to Health Partners International, the lives of 354 at-risk women have been saved from dying in pregnancy and childbirth; 15,000 unintended pregnancies have been prevented due to family planning services; and the deaths of 9,096 children averted due to routine immunization, neonatal and child health services. Additionally, 201,613 mothers had access to obstetric care, with 56,998 deliveries attended by Skilled Birth Attendants, in the last 18 months alone.
Hauwa’u, a 25 year old women who already lost two children during childbirth, attributes the success of her last pregnancy to trained community health worker, Fatsuma, who recognized she was experiencing complications and sent her to the hospital. “When this all happened my husband wasn't home” said Hauwa’u. “Had it not been for the community members and volunteers I don't know what would have happened to me. I could be dead by now. Because of the help they gave me, I survived." Fatsuma, now a champion for family planning, has taken her advocacy a step further by persuading families to create a communal savings arrangement for medical care, to organize corresponding transportation and to identify prospective blood donors.
The PRRINN-MNCH programs, led by Health Partners International, GRID Consulting Nigeria and Save the Children UK, expect to produce even greater results by 2013, with an estimated two million women to receive better maternal health care due to their efforts. "It's not only the volunteers who are transmitting this information, it's the whole community" says Binta, another midwife that trains volunteers in ‘body tools.'
"One person will learn and then ten or twenty people will learn from them."
Watch the video "Making pregnancy and childbirth safe in Nigeria":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddDhFzX8zXw&feature=player_embedded
http://www.healthynewbornnetwork.org/blog/celebrate-solutions-maternal-newborn-and-child-health-programs-nigeria-set-bar-high
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