tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86342079148231879282024-03-13T15:22:48.930+00:00ADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIA (AMIHN)AMIHIN is a Nigeria based international development agency set up in 2009 officially, to address the unacceptably high levels of maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity in poor communities in West Africa.
We work to disseminate information on best healthcare practices to improve maternal and newborn health in poor communities; to provide financial and physical support to mothers and newborn in poor communities. Our particular focus is on pregnancy and the first 1 year of life.ADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comBlogger322125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-57531842882429606492017-08-04T18:40:00.000+01:002017-08-04T18:42:02.693+01:00
103,742 Nigerian children lost annually to low uptake of exclusive breastfeeding
By NAN | 04 August 2017 | 11:45 am
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The United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) says 103,742 children die annually in Nigeria due to lack of exclusive breastfeeding.
Mrs Ada Ezeogu, a UNICEF Nutrition Specialist, made this known at a media dialogue on Breastfeeding and Global Breastfeeding Collective.
It was organised by Child Rights Information Bureau, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, sponsored by UK Department for International Development (DFID) on Friday in Ibadan.
The United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) says 103,742 children die annually in Nigeria due to lack of exclusive breastfeeding.
Mrs Ada Ezeogu, a UNICEF Nutrition Specialist, made this known at a media dialogue on Breastfeeding and Global Breastfeeding Collective.
It was organised by Child Rights Information Bureau, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, sponsored by UK Department for International Development (DFID) on Friday in Ibadan.
Ezeogu spoke on “Breastfeeding Importance and Benefits to Children and The Role of UNICEF.”
The nutrition specialist, while decrying the low uptake of exclusive breastfeeding in Nigeria, said that the gap or lapses robbed 5.4 million children yearly of its benefits.
“Delaying breastfeeding for two to 23 hours after birth increases the risk of dying within 28 days of a baby’s life by 40 per cent.
“Based on UNICEF fact sheet, the low rate of Exclusive Breastfeeding (EBF) leads to 103,742 child’s deaths and translated to almost 12 billion dollars in future economic losses for the country.
“The summation of low cognitive development, low IQ and health costs in inadequate breastfeeding is estimated to cost the country economy 21 billion dollars per year or 4.1 per cent of its gross national income,” Ezeogu said.
She said that exclusively breastfed babies were 14 times less likely to die than those not breastfed.
“Breastfeeding reduces the incidence of death in newborns as they account for close to half of all deaths of children under the age of five.
“Breastfeeding is expected to be initiated within one hour after birth, the longer the delay, the higher the risk of death in the first month of life,’’ Ezeogu said.
She described breastfeeding or breast milk as a perfect food, best protection for child against an array of illnesses and diseases and all encompassing food for babies.
According to her, this has contributed to the country’s problem of chronic malnutrition resulting to the current 11 million malnourished under five children.
Ezeogu said that breast milk was key in the prevention of two leading causes of under five mortality, which were the childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea.
“Water is the greatest barrier to EBF and if mothers, families, communities, among other stakeholders are abreast of the level of water content of the breast milk, which is over 88 per cent, the rate of uptake of EBF will increase.
“This will afford the nation to realise or achieve the accrued benefits economically, educational, health, among others,” she said.
Also, Mr Geoffrey Njoku, the UNICEF Communication Specialist, said that dialogue was aimed at partnering with the media in increasing the rate of EBF in the country
In his remarks, Mr Tejinder Sadhu, the Chief of Field Office UNICEF, Akure, said that 13 per cent of child’s death would be averted, if 90 per cent of mothers could exclusively breastfeed their infants in the first six months of life.
Sadhu said that breastfeeding was beneficial to the national economy by assisting in lowering healthcare costs, increase educational attainment, as well as boosting activities.
“Breastfeeding is not one woman’s job, mothers need assistance and support from their healthcare providers, families, communities, employers and government so that they can provide their children the healthiest start to life.
“Together we can support them into breastfeeding, protect and help in ensuring the wellbeing of our future generations,” he said.
https://m.guardian.ng/features/103742-nigerian-children-lost-annually-to-low-uptake-of-exclusive-breastfeeding/
ADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-42395453871999348772013-08-20T16:00:00.001+01:002013-08-20T16:00:30.582+01:00Nigeria: The Dangers of Too Many Children - Professor LadipoBY SOLA OGUNDIPE
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LAST year, President Goodluck Jonathan stirred the hornet's nest when he declared that Nigerians were having too many children.
The President's accusation was directed at persons unable to properly cater for the needs of their children as those guilty of giving birth too many times and too often. "Uneducated people are having too many children. People should only have as many children as they can afford," the President remarked.
His declaration that Nigerians ought to learn to limit the number of children they brought into the world did not go down well with a lot of people.
The call, which was essentially for new policies and legislation on family planning in the country towards controlling number of births, was greeted with mixed reactions. Although incisive debate still trails the President's commentary on the sensitive issue of childbirth, the implications of unchecked population increase and a high fertility rate remain paramount, especially with growing evidence that unchecked population growth is a major trigger of violence in the country.
Population moderation
"There is great wisdom in having only the number of children you can provide for. We need a population moderation and management policy because people should not just be having as many children as they want," asserts Professor Oladapo Ladipo, the President/CEO, Association for Reproduction and Family Health, ARFH, Abuja.
Anyone who disagrees with this assertion should ask Haruna, the maiguard whose wife just gave birth to her 11th child. Kunle, his employer, who also has one wife, but three children, is already sponsoring Haruna's first two children in school. Four other children are scattered around, and at least two others are being brought up by relations and guardians.
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Ladipo argued that millions of "Harunas" out there, who have failed to moderate the size of their family, and the ones rocking the boat by continually transferring the responsibility of catering for their children to the "Kunles" who have moderated the size of their families and are doing well as a result.
"It is important for Nigerians and indeed Africans generally to recognize the need to have just the number of children we can care for, rather than just reproducing and expecting God to take care of them. There is no reason for having children who are just languishing in abject poverty, roaming around, doing nothing productive," he remarked.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201308191231.html
ADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-48805083091943329592013-08-20T15:25:00.000+01:002013-08-20T15:25:14.438+01:00 BACKGROUND Nigeria: HIV/Aids - Problems of Orphans, Vulnerable Children in NigeriaBY ELOKE ONYEBUCHI,
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The response to the crisis of orphans and vulnerable children due to HIV/AIDS in Nigeria has been largely community driven with the extended family providing the safety net for protection, care and support.
Estimates indicate that 7 million populations were orphans in 2003, which 1.8 million were affected by HIV/AIDS. Consequently high levels of poverty resulting in low resource base and lack of basic credit and employment facilities in most rural communities have jeopardized the realization of the wellbeing of orphans and vulnerable children in Nigeria.
The objectives of this article are to present a summary of the national OVC situation and current policy responses. To outline the existing frameworks for responding to OVC and to identify the policy - level gaps in the national responses to the growing crises of OVC, and the need to intervene on these problems affecting orphan and vulnerable children affected or infected by hiv/aids in Nigeria.
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Until recently, the scale of the national response has not been commensurate with the magnitude of the orphans and vulnerable children's problems. In spite of some weaknesses where individual children living with caregivers are targeted, there are examplesA of best practice in pockets of interventions in the country. These are largely community driven responses that work in partnerships with civil society organizations to provide protection, care and support for most vulnerable children and their families. Evidence of such good practice remains limited in size and scope is highly uncoordinated, due to unavailable active policy environment.
Children, mainly of youth age have been the missing voice and face of orphans and vulnerability responses to date. Without taking determined steps to address the specific needs of children, there will be no chance of meeting the Millennium Development and NEEDS Goals (MDGs); and certainly no chance of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV and AIDS. Failure to meet the goal on HIV and AIDS will adversely affect the country's chances to meet the other MDGs, as HIV and AIDS will continue to impede efforts to reduce extreme poverty and hunger, provide universal primary education, and reduce child mortality and improve public health care. Millions of children under 15 years in the path of the pandemic are at risk and in need of protection.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201308191661.html
ADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-83992325411621200612013-08-20T15:12:00.001+01:002013-08-20T15:12:36.626+01:00Rotavirus - the Silent Child Killer
BY PERPETUA ONUEGBU, 18 AUGUST 2013
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Mrs Ebiere Amechi watched helplessly as her baby, Michael, a plump and lively boy, started vomiting and stooling.
The woman has been assured that when babies entered their teething period; incessant stooling and vomiting are usually the precursors.
Ebiere helplessly watched her child slipping away from her, as Michael continued to depreciate in weight each time he passed out stool. She later became frightened and sought the help of her next-door neighbour, Mama Kelechi.
Mama Kelechi made Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) for Michael but when he was not showing any sign of improvement, Ebiere carried her baby and scampered to the hospital.
"This is a case of Rotavirus madam; you are lucky you brought this child here on time," the doctor said.
"What is Rotavirus?" a bewildered Ebiera asked. Diarrhoea is caused by a virus called Rotavirus and this causes gastroenteritis, whose symptoms include stooling and vomiting," the doctor replied.
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Most people like Ebiere are ignorant of Rotavirus, which is the most common cause of severe diarrhea among infants and young children.
MedicineNet.com, an online health publication, describes Rotavirus as a genus of double-stranded ribonucleic acid known as RNA virus in the Reoviridae family.
Reoviridae is a family of viruses that can affect the gastrointestinal and respiratory tract. Viruses in the Reoviridae family have genomes consisting of segmented, double-stranded RNA. The name Reoviridae is derived from respiratory enteric orphan viruses.
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The publication says that the term "orphan virus" means a virus that is not associated with any known disease. Even though viruses in the Reoviridae family have more recently been identified with various diseases, the original name is still used, it adds.
Medical experts say that by the age of five, nearly every child in the world has been infected with Rotavirus at least once. However, with each infection, immunity develops, and subsequent infections are less severe; adults are rarely affected.
There are five species of Rotavirus and they are classified as A, B, C, D, and E. Rotavirus A -- the most common species --
causes more than 90 per cent of infections in humans.
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http://allafrica.com/stories/201308191851.html
ADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-66824725285247713722013-08-20T14:34:00.000+01:002013-08-20T14:34:12.270+01:00Nigeria: What About Malaria?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEuMRIorQ6BYpAzztUTy7Rf8O4EVxVEhhHVLDTA_r7Ibq8HUy3sw0K69Mtz6qDVkJrTtuhrfyV7pmjNeSf1MWhmGWjc17PwMVVqsSzk1eCNon7tVmJ6ZAHIfdgED0k0WbEz8C8FgRTlFmK/s1600/malaria1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEuMRIorQ6BYpAzztUTy7Rf8O4EVxVEhhHVLDTA_r7Ibq8HUy3sw0K69Mtz6qDVkJrTtuhrfyV7pmjNeSf1MWhmGWjc17PwMVVqsSzk1eCNon7tVmJ6ZAHIfdgED0k0WbEz8C8FgRTlFmK/s400/malaria1.jpg" /></a></div>
MINISTER of Health Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu last year announced that more than 90 per cent of Nigeria's population, 150.3 million (the population of ECOWAS countries without Nigeria), is at risk of malaria infection. His prescribed emergency plan was use of more mosquito nets.
Like all those before him, the Minister summarizes the malaria scourge in clichés that belie the ruination from malaria. "Malaria is a major public problem in Nigeria; Nigeria contributes a quarter of malaria burden in Africa. Over 90 per cent of the country's 167 million people are at risk.
It contributes 30 per cent to childhood mortality in the country and contributes 11 per cent of maternal mortality. I must add that it reduces Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product by one per cent annually. It is estimated that malaria-related illnesses and mortality cost Africa's economy about $12 billion annually," the Minister chanted.
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So what is the next step? How can malaria be this dangerous - it really is - and all that our health officials do is wait for the next World Malaria Day to advertise mosquito nets to Nigerians? When Professor Chukwu assumed office in May 2010, he promised improved health indices.
"My primary task is to ensure that we raise the indices to an appreciable and enviable level. In three months, Nigerians will begin to see sign of changes," Professor Chukwu said in 2010.
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The picture remains one of continuing woes. The Malaria Indicator Survey Nigeria conducted in 2010 showed that about 52 per cent of children aged six months to five years tested positive to malaria. Experts hold that if these children survive, their physical and mental growth would be adversely affected. A combination of malaria infection with poor nutrition ensures that many of those children would have stunted growth and poor mental development.
Dependence on foreign initiatives on malaria will not work. The World Health Organisation, WHO, formally began proposing to eradicate malaria in 1955. Today malaria is claiming more territories and there are fears that with climate change, some parts of Europe and North America, now safe from the anopheles mosquitoes, may breed the harmful mosquitoes.
Nigeria needs to commit resources to researches on malaria vaccine. Malaria is not a global challenge. Nigeria bears a huge part of the malaria burden. Few countries would ignore an issue that wipes away a per cent of its GDP which is what malaria does to Nigeria.
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Health and environmental officials at state and local government levels should enforce sanitation laws that would deny mosquitoes breeding grounds. The world's interest is more in selling mosquito nets than fighting malaria.
Our governments should be more committed to eliminating malaria; enough of depressing statistics.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201308150174.html
ADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-3359584541807653772013-08-14T14:38:00.003+01:002013-08-14T14:38:33.618+01:00Making mothers out of children<i>Written by Ruth Olurounbi </i>
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Despite the fact that there are medical, psychological, social and legal moral justifications, not to mention international outcry, against child marriage, the Nigerian Senate, last Monday, legalised child marriage, thereby increasing the risks of children developing sexual health complications and contravening the Child Rights Act. RUTH OLUROUNBI examines the medical, psychological and social implications of child marriage and how the child rights have been grossly violated by the Senate’s singular action.
Child marriage is not only wrong, it is dangerous. It exposes a young girl to profound health risks from early pregnancy and difficult childbirth and it exposes her baby to complications of premature birth —Anthony Lake, Executive Director of UNICEF.
HAUWA Salidu from Ibeto, Niger State, was 16 years old when she got married two years ago. She was very much in love with 18-year-old Hassan, her husband. Three months after her marriage, she fell pregnant and she was elated. But during the pregnancy, she developed complications.
Eventually, her baby died in her womb but she did not know that she was carrying a dead baby in her womb for more than a month.
Even with the telltale signs, her family members thought the spirits were afflicting their daughter. She was eventually taken to the hospital on the insistence of a community midwife, who told the family they would lose their daughter if they refused to act soon.
At the hospital, it was discovered that the foetus had died for more than six weeks and, as a result, her womb had been ruptured. She was operated upon as was asked not to conceive another baby until she was six years older. Hauwa could have died but more importantly, the life-threatening situation could have been avoided, if she had not married early.
There are many other cases like Hauwa’s and other serious ones, even those who married way younger than she did with grimmer outcomes. While some children have lost their lives while bearing children, some have been condemned to live their lives in the shadows after developing vesicovaginal fistula (VVF).
These and many more are some of the pathetic experiences of young women who have been condemned to harzadous life as a result of being married early. These facts are before the the Senate of Federal Republic of Nigeria but the distinguished chose to ignore these chilling facts last Monday when they approved the marriage of children irrespective of their ages. They went ahead to proscribe the law stipulating 18 years as the age any Nigerian child is qualified to engage into a conscious agreement of marriage.
The approval came when former Zamfara State governor and current senator, Sani Yerima, whose marriage to a 13-year-old girl drew widespread outrage in 2009, asked the Senate to reverse a vote that appeared to outlaw underage marriage.
Yerima contended that the provision, which stipulates a certain age for women before getting married, was at variance with Islamic law and biased. “The constitution says the National Assembly shall legislate on marriage except those under Islamic rites. Islam says once a woman is married, she is of age,” Yerima had argued.
By legalising underage marriage, the country is invariably bringing to reality the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)’s prediction that more than 140 million girls would marry between 2011 and 2020. The UNFPA, in a joint press release with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), had predicted that if current levels of child marriages should hold, 14.2 million girls annually or 39,000 daily would marry too young, adding that of the 140 million girls who would marry before the age of 18, 50 million would be under the age of 15.
Senate law versus International declaration
Legally, the Senate approval of child marriage is a contravention against the child rights act which has been passed in Oyo State, former Vice Chairperson of FIDA, Mrs Victoria Famakinwa told Sunday Tribune.
Child’s Right Act 2003 stipulated that every child has the right to be protected from physical and mental violence, injury or abuse, including sexual abuse, rape and sexual exploitation, the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, the right to rest and leisure, and to participate freely …, the right to not be separated from parents against the child’s will, the right to protection against all forms of exploitation affecting any aspect of the child’s welfare and the right to eventual employment.
A lawyer in Ibadan, who doesn’t want her name in print explained to Sunday Tribune that the approval that children under the ages of 18 are allowed to be married is a contravention of the Child’s Right Acts even though the Islamic law allows for it. “The Islamic law is a law that governs a section of the people who practices the religion, and not everybody. If the Senate throws a blanket on the age required to contract a marriage agreement, that is a violation of other non-Muslims’ right,” she noted.
Speaking on child marriage, the lawyer said that legally, a child is any person who is under the age of 18. She said that Section 21 of the Child’s Rights Act 2003 prohibits child marriage, while quoting the said section as: No person under the age of 18 years is capable of contracting a valid marriage and accordingly, a marriage so contracted is null and void and of no effect.” She added that there’s a provision of punishment to whoever promotes child marriage. Such persons, she said, are liable of an offence and if found guilty, are fined N500, 000 or five years imprisonment or both. When asked if the Senate is liable of any offence, she said “yes, absolutely.”
Paedophile or marriage?
When asked what child marriage means, a lawyer in Abuja, Mr Eze Chukwuemeka, in a telephone interview with the Sunday Tribune, said “child marriage occurs when one or both parties are under the age of 18. The emerging consensus of international human rights standards is that the minimum age of marriage should be set at 18 in order to protect underage children from child marriage, although the practice affects girls more frequently and often coincides with other rights violations, including but not limited to domestic violence and impeded access to reproductive health care and education.”
Despite the physical damage and the persistent discrimination to young girls, little progress has been made toward ending the practice of child marriage, UNICEF said.
Recently, Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, the Executive Director, UNFPA said “child marriage is an appalling violation of human rights and robs girls of their education, health and long-term prospects. A girl who is married as a child is one whose potential will not be fulfilled. Since many parents and communities also want the very best for their daughters, we must work together and end child marriage.”
Although Yerima had argued from religious point of view, some religious leaders have contended that the responsibility is not only to teach the people the tenets of their religions, but also to cater for the people’s welfares. An Islamic spiritual leader in at Mokola Area, Ibadan, Oyo State, Alhaji Abiodun Abdulrahman, told Sunday Tribune, that just as he would not argue against the Islamic tenet that stipulates the basis of marriage, children, he said, have no business being married.
“Children are supposed to be in school, learning how to better their lives and not to be married off. Honestly, what does a child know about marriage?” he queried expressing his worry that “by the Senate’s action, our children, who are already vulnerable to sexual abuse have now become more vulnerable. This law has stripped our children of little protection they had and I am very sad about this.”
When asked if he could give out his 13-year-old daughter in marriage, he gave an emphatic “no!”
“I cannot give my daughter out in marriage, even if she is 18. At 18, she’s probably in the university. Besides, there are health complications for underage deliveries and I don’t want that for my children. I want them to be happy and very happy, not tormented by the prospect of any marriage. Although I recognise that I cannot protect them from all harm, I also know that it is my responsibility to protect them as much as I can. Underage marriage falls under that category.”
Living in health bondage
Beyond the religious or cultural stipulations, human rights activists are canvassing that the welfares of people should come first. It is a common belief among some cultures that child marriage does protect girls from promiscuity and disease. But the UNICEF has recorded that married girls are more likely to become infected with STDs, in particular HIV and human papilloma virus (HPV), especially if their husbands keep multiple sex partners or engage in unprotected sex.
For instance, a recent study in Kenya showed that married girls had a 50 per cent higher likelihood of becoming infected with HIV than their unmarried counterparts. This risk was 59 per cent higher in Zambia. In Uganda, the HIV prevalence rate for girls 15–19 years of age was 89 per cent higher for married girls between the ages of 15–29 years of age than single girls, who recorded 66 per cent. All of these studies showed that girls were being infected by their husbands.
“A hypothesis relevant to this finding is that a young girl may be physiologically more prone to HIV infection because her vagina is not yet well lined with protective cells and her cervix may be more easily eroded. Risk for HIV transmission is also heightened because hymen, vaginal, or cervical lacerations increase the transmission rate, and many of these young girls lose their virginity to HIV-infected husbands. Also, STDs such as herpes simplex virus type 2 infections, gonorrhea, or chlamydia enhance girls’ vulnerability to HIV,” US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health.
Dr Oluwaseyi Lawal, an obstetrics and gynaecology expert in Abuja told the Sunday Tribune that aged 15 to 20 are twice as likely to die in childbirth as those in their 20s, and girls under the age of 15 are five times as likely to die. “Prolonged and obstructed labour, which is common among pregnant young adolescents, can lead to hemorrhage, severe infection, and maternal death. This is especially true for girls who experience additional pregnancy-related complications such as eclampsia. Those who survive may suffer from obstetric fistula, a debilitating condition that causes chronic incontinence and results in shame and social isolation,” he added.
Socially, according to a social worker, Ms Monica Ladipo, girls who are married at a very young age experience related educational, social, and personal disadvantages, among which are: greater control over the young bride by her husband and his family, including restrictions on her freedom of movement and her capacity to seek health care and family planning services; increased likelihood that she will experience domestic violence and sexual abuse; little if any schooling and little possibility of pursuing educational opportunities; limited capacity to enter the paid labour force and earn an independent income; greater personal insecurity in the face of the possibility of divorce or early widowhood; and social isolation from her own family, friends, and other social networks, according to the International Women’s Health Coalition
We must rise to protect our children, Nigerians react
But since the Senate took the controversial decision, many Nigerians have taken to the social media network, especially, Twitter, to protest what they termed official pedophilia in the constitution. The outcry, which trended under the hashtag “#ChildNotBride” was led by some notable Nigerians.
Mrs Nike Adeyemi, wife of the Daystar Pastor, Pastor Sam Adeyemi, with Twitter handle @NikeAdeyemi: “Let’s speak out against injustice, let us love mercy, let’s do what is right @omojuwa @obyezeks @sam_adeyemi #ChildNotBride.
@emmaben30 wrote, “if you want to convince us that we need more women in politics, you’ve got to show promise. “Any senator that voted for a child to be sold into marriage should lead by example... Sell your kids at 13 #ChildNotBride.
@finegurl: “a 13-year-old girl is supposed to be playing suwe and “ten-ten”. Not some sick pervert ramming shegu into her. #Childnotbride.
@ebonyoma said “this is not about feminism or religion. It is about justice and human rights. Protect our girls! #childnotbride #endpaedophilia
@GLOHF: It’s not enough to discuss the issue, let’s TAKE ACTION #ChildNotBride #Underage marriage sign the petition and Sarah McGrath, with the handle @McGrathSarah wrote, “every 3 seconds, another girl becomes a child bride.” via @TheElders http://elde.rs/2AT #DayoftheGirl #childnotbride.
Some other people just expressed their disgust at the development without the help of a hashtag.
Niki Cheong with Twitter handle @nikicheong wrote, “this glorifying of underage marriage should upset all girls and piss off all men who have mothers, sisters, children and female friends.”
Pastor of Business Church, Pastor Tope Popoola, too reacted on his Facebook. Captioned “Nigeria on my mind”, he wrote that “when you make crooked men rulers, do not expect them to draw straight lines! What does one make of the Senate legalising marriage to children simply because one of its own is guilty of breaching international statutes on the matter? When will this nonsense stop? If there is indeed a coalition of civil society groups, they must rise up and speak with one voice NOW!”
Another person, Mr Olaitan Okedeji, wrote that “this arrant senselessness must be challenged more than fuel subsidy was and immediately. And not only by civil groups, but professional organisations and all sane people! Madness.”
Mothers are not left out of this protest. An uneducated mother in Beere, Ibadan, who was asked what her stance was on the child marriage issue, was shocked when the meaning of the approval was interpreted to her in Yoruba. She responded with a curse. “aye o ni yen eni toun o. Nitori Olorun. Ki ni omodun metala mo nipa ile-oko. Omo odun metala ye ko wa ni ile iwe ni. Olori buruku loni toun to ni ki omodun metala lo le oko” (meaning “it will not be well with such proponent. For God’s sake, what does a 13-year-old girl know about marriage? A girl of such age is supposed to be in school. Whoever proposes such is a never-do-well”).
Another mother, an educated one this time, said she could not comprehend the outcome. Mrs Adeoba Ogundaisi, a teacher, said “sincerely, I cannot comprehend raising any child below the age of 18 and ask her to get married. I think that those people who passed that law are only protecting themselves against the law. They know that they are paedophiles and at the same time, they don’t want to be punished for their crimes. It is inhuman to legalise rape. Because as far as I am concerned, that it what it is, rape.”
Though the outcry is still ongoing, Nigerians are waiting patiently to see whether the rule of reason will prevail over the flimsy ones of lascivious men. But as the UN has often insists, every girl has a right to life and make her choice.
“No girl should be robbed of her childhood, her education and health, and her aspirations. Yet today millions of girls are denied their rights each year when they are married as child brides,” Dr Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of United Nations (UN) Women, said, while Executive Director of UNICEF, Anthony Lake, added that “child marriage is not only wrong, it is [also] dangerous. It exposes a young girl to profound health risks from early pregnancy and difficult childbirth and it exposes her baby to complications of premature birth.”
The Nigerian girl deserves better deal from her own father and her country.
http://www.tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/component/k2/item/17199-making-mothers-out-of-childrenADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-52956852631183690542013-08-14T14:29:00.000+01:002013-08-14T14:29:59.041+01:00PSN labels Nigeria as biggest exporter of wild oral polio virus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_0IWhTLXaOYrD5RYaGKr2eAOzVTcaZxUrW5wCgcpW_Xgkggw2rlJwxn-fZAsCDnkm6_PRDZPhx4tUZ4RZg49HsXSVfX5sSVopeGsR647wAIWaBJCb0iXutjGqkhdqgnkkHIND0Yorr3r5/s1600/21119733974382.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_0IWhTLXaOYrD5RYaGKr2eAOzVTcaZxUrW5wCgcpW_Xgkggw2rlJwxn-fZAsCDnkm6_PRDZPhx4tUZ4RZg49HsXSVfX5sSVopeGsR647wAIWaBJCb0iXutjGqkhdqgnkkHIND0Yorr3r5/s400/21119733974382.gif" /></a></div>
WorldStage Newsonline-- Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has labelled Nigeria as the current biggest exporter of wild oral polio virus in the world.
President, PSN, Olumide Akintayo told journalists in Ilorin, at the weekend that in other climes such as the USA, 80 per cent of immunization endeavours were conducted within the confine of community pharmacists, saying that the community pharmacist was the first port of call where people access healthcare.
Mr. Akintayo said that “child and maternal mortality in Nigeria and India account for 40 percent of the incident worldwide. Why? Because government is shortchanging pharmacists and other cadres of healthcare providers who have expertise that can help reduce this unfortunate trend.”
He said, “today, one out of 100 life births under one results in death. In less than three week ago they still identified three new episode of wild polio virus in Nigeria.”
On President Goodluck Jonathan war against fake and counterfeit drugs, the pharmacist said “nothing has changed. The status quo ante is maintained. Government must work its talk. It is no use setting up regulatory agencies that are not well funded to carry out their mandate.
“Problem of drug faking has assumed large dimension in this land. I have been saying this that there are security dimensions to curbing the menace.
“There are less than 4000 registered pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers wholesalers, retailers including patent medicine drug sellers, but I can confirm that we have over two million different layers who sell drugs.”
He attributed the Nigerian sordid healthcare delivery to the relegation of pharmacist and other health professionals to the backburner of things.
“So what we have at all levels of health planning and designing in this country government reckons with the input of only one profession and the result is what we are all contending with,” he said.
“We live in a country where the constitution says you shall not legislate against privileges that can be enjoyed by any citizen of the federal republic of Nigeria. What is being done is outright discrimination against privileges meant for the Nigerian citizens.
“If President Jonathan wants to begin to solve the problems in healthcare the time is now to take stock and find out why did Ali Pate resign? He was frustrated by the bureaucracy of that ministry. Our people will continue to suffer except our government is bold enough to do the right thing.
“Pharmacists are not in any form of popularity context with doctors. I do know that constitutional imperatives are very clear. There are conditions precedents in the 1999 constitution for you to be minister of the federal republic of Nigeria.
“It is not my business if anybody appoints a doctor as his minister, all we are saying here is that government needs to be very careful in the way it runs healthcare endeavours. The health sector is a peculiar one. It is a multi-disciplinary sector. There is an array of different healthcare providers.
“We told government several times that if there are two slots allotted to the federal ministry of health, it cannot get it right if it appoints members of a single profession to run that type of ministry. It has never happened. It is only under the current administration that it has ever happened and it sickening and disgusting.
“The fallouts are very clear. Check out some of the things going on in the federal ministry of health. President Jonathan when he came on board recognized that there are problems in the health sector. One of the first things he did was to set up a presidential committee on harmony for the sector.
“The committee members came out with a position that most of the things that have created problems for the sector stemmed from an obnoxious act of parliament created during the military era by late Olikoye Ransome Kuti.
“That is called Act 10 of 1985. It wasn’t until 1985 that it became the birthright of medical doctors to head hospital in this country. Hitherto, it was administrators heading hospitals. In places like the University Teaching Hospital (UCH), Ibadan what we had were hospital governors.
“We have a legislation that in board appointment, between seven and eight slots have been reserved permanently for only medical doctors and with twelve members board. So we have a situation whereby all other health professionals are given one slot.
“Tragically, the current health minister has found it very difficult to allow members of other professions in the sector to be represented in any board. Today, presidential committee on harmony report is being manipulated by him and the federal executive council has thrown that report away.”
http://www.worldstagegroup.com/worldstagenew/index.php?active=news&newscid=9902&catid=10
ADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-20503805896542337352013-08-14T12:01:00.000+01:002013-08-14T13:39:19.943+01:00Nigeria should consider 'medical consequences' of child marriage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1asPGX09pyRfN2oFSQYHC9fKx2PSkI0vzY3_17h3EZuRvGYYHtGPt5_rgnkxQw9LDscZRgbsnlP_9bIDg9tr5sSTfzgOUaUW6TB2aEavWvXtQrPZZI0yOYWy2yy3ZuySHj_Tva8joAmqq/s1600/nigeria-underage-marriage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1asPGX09pyRfN2oFSQYHC9fKx2PSkI0vzY3_17h3EZuRvGYYHtGPt5_rgnkxQw9LDscZRgbsnlP_9bIDg9tr5sSTfzgOUaUW6TB2aEavWvXtQrPZZI0yOYWy2yy3ZuySHj_Tva8joAmqq/s400/nigeria-underage-marriage.jpg" /></a></div>
<i><b>SAY <b></i>'NO'</b> <i>TO CHILD MARRIAGE</b></i>
Child Marriage has become a thing of serious concern in Nigeria. With the voting in the Senate supporting it, thanks to Governor Yerima pushing the motion.
(Governor Yerima is a Governor of a state in Nigeria who married a young girl of 13 years recently in a wedding that saw 'supposed important personalities' gracing the 'unholy child marriage' of a young disoriented child who is being officially introduced to sex at an early age).
The age her peers are running to school to learn. But poverty saw her being sold to a man old enough to be her father for a price they(the parents) believe will lift them out of poverty....for a while. A price he was willing to pay to satisfy his sexual urge.
Below is an interesting extract I found....
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<b>Healthcare professionals in Nigeria have warned that the country's government needs to consider the "medical consequences" of child marriage before making a "far-reaching decision".</b>
Dr Imran Morhason-Bello, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at University College Hospital in Ibadan, told the Tribune that adolescents who become pregnant are faced "with myriads of avoidable medical problems".
"Evidence abounds that teenage pregnancy is associated with poverty, low educational level, high maternal morbidity and mortality," he said.
Child marriage has provoked heated debate in Nigeria following the senate's decision last month not to remove a legal loophole that legitimises the practice.
According to Dr Femi Akinwumi, a doctor at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital in Ile Ife, the maternal mortality rate for women between the ages of 15 and 19 is twice as high as for those in their early 20s.
Girls aged between ten and 14 years, meanwhile, are five times as likely to die due to complications in pregnancy, childbirth or the postpartum period as their older counterparts.
Posted by Alexandra George
<a href="http://www.figo.org/news/nigeria-should-consider-medical-consequences-child-marriage-0011450"></a>ADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-8970477382247236902012-08-30T17:49:00.002+01:002012-08-30T17:49:18.394+01:00The Bridge Clinic wins 2012 best IVF hospital in Nigeria awardTHE Bridge Clinic has won the “Best Assisted Conception and In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) Hospital 2012.” The Award was presented to the hospital by the Institute for Government Research and Leadership Technology (IGRLT) at its 2012 African Governance and Corporate Leadership Awards event held on August 25, 2012 at Nicon Luxury Abuja.
The Managing Director of the Bridge Clinic, Dr. Richard Ajayi, savouring the award, said in a statement: “We have continued to give our best in our path of offering alternative fertility options to couples in Nigeria and we have indeed derived deep fulfillment from our patients’ successes so far, but to be recognised and awarded for doing so by the Institute for Government Research and Leadership Technology, is even more exhilarating…I’m sure that this award will provide the necessary drive for (our medical) team to do more.”
According to a letter signed by the Country Director/Chief Executive of IGRLT, Moses Essien, the parameters for the award to The Bridge Clinic were outlined as including expertise in the provision of first rate IVF; outstanding in the provision of first class assisted conception; excellence in brand integrity, reputation and patient service; compliance with professional codes and ethical standards; and compliance with regulatory laws and guidance among others.
The Clinic had also been commended by the Lagos State Ministry of Health for the first ICSI babies in Nigeria; won the Guild of Medical Directors Award for excellence in medicine and the SOGON Award in recognition of outstanding contributions in clinical service delivery towards the promotion of maternal healthcare in Nigeria. The Managing Director also recently received the award for Lagos Medical Icon for his contribution to the development of quality-assisted conception and IVF practices in Nigeria.
The Bridge Clinic, founded in 1999, provides fertility services in Nigeria. It is reputed to have restored the joys of numerous families with the voices of over 1,400 children born so far in homes all over the nation through its services. It runs clinics in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kaduna.
“As part of its corporate social responsibility initiatives, The Bridge Clinic in collaboration with the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, provides subsidised IVF services to socio-economically disadvantaged couples in the state thus helping to reduce health inequalities. It implemented its quality management system since 2004, ahead of most clinics globally, and was awarded the ISO9001:2000 certificate by TUV Austria which was upgraded to the ISO9001:2008 certificate in 2010.
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=97110:the-bridge-clinic-wins-2012-best-ivf-hospital-in-nigeria-award&catid=93:science&Itemid=608ADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-62484400111314563592012-08-30T17:45:00.001+01:002012-08-30T17:45:23.097+01:00Teamwork lacking in health care’AUGUST 30, 2012 BY MUDIAGA AFFE, CALABAR LEAVE A COMMENT
LACK of team work among different professionals in the medical sector has been identified as being responsible for the problems in the health care delivery system in the country.
The National Chairman of Nigeria Association of Hospital and Administrative Pharmacists, an arm of the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigeria, Dr. Nkechi Anyanwu, made this known at the 14th Annual National Scientific Conference of NAHP, in Calabar, Cross River State.
Anyanwu said no professional within the sector could singlehandedly deliver quality health care to the masses.
She said the government needed to promote teamwork in its bid to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
Chairman of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Cross River State, Mr. Paul Agulu, said despite that Nigeria had not attained its optimum feat of providing excellent quality health care for her citizens, there were conscious efforts by various state governments to set positive goals to improve health care of her citizens.
http://www.punchng.com/news/teamwork-lacking-in-health-care/ADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-58297314028344522402012-08-30T17:43:00.003+01:002012-08-30T17:43:59.101+01:00Mega hospital project: Concerns mount over accessibility, costMIXED reactions have continued to trail government’s plan to set up private sector-managed mega hospitals in Nigeria’s six geo-political zones and the commissioning of experts to draw a road map for the actualisation of the long-term dream.
Under the scheme, the government is giving the private sector the nod to mobilise resources to set up and manage the facilities in a selected state in each of the six zones.
The committee is headed by former United Bank for Africa (UBA) Chief Executive, Tony Elumelu, representatives of the Nigerian Economic Summit group (NESG), the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN) and several other members from the sector in Nigeria. The projects are part of the government’s renewed attempt to bring affordable health services to Nigeria and check the exodus of the citizens abroad for medical tourism.
The panel will also draw up an implementable plan for President Goodluck Jonathan’s vision of setting up at least one world-class private hospital in each of the zones before the end of his tenure in 2015. They are also to identify and engage potential investors with a view to guiding them to develop business models and plans for the setting up of world-class hospitals in the country.
The team will also look into and propose an accreditation scheme that would ensure full compliance with global best practices in the operations of the proposed facilities.
The plan has drawn intense applause from some stakeholders. Some stakeholders are also calling for caution. In separate interviews with The Guardian, they attempted to set agenda for government, insisting that the efforts to attract private sector investment into the healthcare system should primarily focus on affordability.
Former Federal Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria, Emmanuel Onwubiko says that the critical issues of healthcare are not one to be left entirely to the private sector to drive because of the cost implication on the poorest of the poor.
He said, “if we allow the private sector to drive process of building, maintaining and running healthcare facilities across the country, this will adversely affect the enjoyment by the citizenry of the fundamental freedom of right to life because basically, the private healthcare providers are interested in maximising profits.”
He rather tasked government to strengthen the primary healthcare facilities in the rural areas and put strategies in place on how to make them function optimally to bring succor and healthcare at very affordable rate to the poor rural inhabitants.
His words, “government must not hand over the running of hospitals especially in the rural areas to the private sector because that would be suicidal and, in fact, would mean the end of government because the rural poor have no other way of feeling the impact of government other than the healthcare they receive from little healthcare facilities that are at present in those local council areas.
“There has to be a clear determination of stakeholders in the political process to ensure that democracy works at the level of the local councils so that the elected officials are compelled to run the rural healthcare facilities efficiently making use of the allocations that they are entitled to from the federation account.”
For the city and urban areas, Onwubiko, who is also executive director of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), argues that government could allow the private sector investor to drive investments, noting, however, safeguards should be put in place to ensure that patients are not exploited unduly.
“Government can grade the hospitals in such a way that government would have a way of offering incentives to Nigerian patients to enjoy some affordable healthcare. Government must ensure that there is a national health insurance scheme that is workable and not encumbered by bureaucracy but is run efficiently to enable every Nigerian to buy into the scheme. This health insurance scheme should be used to raise some fund that could be used as subsidy for poor patients in the urban areas who may not be able to afford the regular cost of healthcare in the privately run hospitals...”
Director, Capacity Building /Programme Manager, Health at ActionAid International Nigeria, Ipoade Omilaju, raised fears that the mega hospital concept could create unnecessary class in the nation’s healthcare system.
He commended the optimism displayed by the minister of Health on the workability of this initiative, but raised concerns about affordability.
His words, “the minister spoke as if he is not a Nigerian and pretends as if he is not aware of the 70 million Nigerians who go to bed daily without a meal and without hope for the following day. How will they be able to afford this or in whose interest are we creating this?
“I see this as another opportunity to transfer government responsibility in protecting and upholding the right to health of the citizens. Agreed, government might not be able to do everything but government should at least make the primary healthcare system work and affordable to all; be committed to providing needed things that make up minimum health package.”
According to him, “promoting this kind of initiative is another way to create class in the healthcare system and widening the already existing gaps between the rich and the poor in access to quality healthcare services.”
National President, Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN), Dr. Anthony Omolola, on his part, assured that his association would give the committee all the support it requires to succeed.
Founder of Community Health Information Education Forum (CHIEF), Remi Akinmade prefers that the project be run as private-public partnership, instead of leaving it entirely in the hands of private investors.
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=97103:mega-hospital-project-concerns-mount-over-accessibility-cost&catid=93:science&Itemid=608ADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-85833387579009062272012-08-30T17:41:00.000+01:002012-08-30T17:41:06.786+01:00Nigerians in Diaspora volunteer to boost tertiary healthcareNAMFI opens office in Lagos
A GROUP of Nigerian medical specialists in the United States (U.S.) is embarking on voluntary medical services to address gaps in tertiary care services in the country.
Efforts by the group, under the aegis of Nigeria American Medical Foundation International (NAMFI), will address overseas medical trips and reverse brain drain “through the immense human capital and brainpower of Nigerian super-specialists in the American Diaspora.”
Secretary to NAMFI Board of Trustees in Lagos, Dr. Adeyinka Shoroye said that the initiative was born out of the discovery that the biggest challenge to tertiary care in Nigeria was more of the dearth of medical experts than infrastructure.
Meanwhile, there are currently about 4,000 Nigerian specialists in the U.S., about a third of whom are sub-specialty trained in about 80 sub-specialties from American Medical Association (AMA) database.
“But with deficiencies in key sub-specialties in Nigeria, sick Nigerians now travel daily to the Apollo and Care Hospitals in India seeking second-opinions, highly specialised care,” Shoroye said.
He said that it is worrisome that an Indian private diagnostic facility in Lagos alone weekly refers 20 patients to India for oncology diagnosis and treatment. And on daily flights from Lagos, about 40 patients are said to be India-bound patients for cardiac and renal conditions.
While the rich and top government officials travel on medical tourism to Europe, North America, Dubai and South Africa, the middle class Nigerians travel to India, the poor and government-sponsored go to Egypt.
“Data from the Central Bank reveals that $2.5 billion is spent by rich Nigerians on medical treatment abroad annually. It is also estimated that about the same figure is remitted home yearly from Nigerians in Diaspora for the cost of treatment of relatives!
“Is this 21st century trade by barter? This is a big capital flight our human capital abroad can reverse. This cannot continue. Import our ‘finished products,” he said.
To bridge the gap, NAMFI recently set up an office in Ikoyi, Lagos, with the mission “to fill the present huge gap in tertiary care in Nigeria with the immense human capital and brainpower of Nigerian super-specialists in the American Diaspora.”
Shoroye, who is an attending physician at Oasis American Hospital, Abu Dhabi, said Nigeria’s luxury of expertise and experienced medical hands in America would be rotating voluntarily, year-round (by appointments only) to give tertiary care services in Nigeria.
“We should remember that this is the generation that first put Nigeria on the global stage of excellence in medicine. We have a huge opportunity of human capital in history now to make a difference. They are bringing the flavour of experience with huge talent of those rotating from the U.S.”
NAMFI is incorporated as a non-profit organisation in California and later in Nigeria, with Lagos office at Mulliner Towers, No. 39, Kingsway Road, Suite 113, Ikoyi. Their web address is www.namfi.org and has 01-215-0000 as phone number.
Shoroye said further that the group had already partnered with about two well-equipped hospitals within 15 minutes distance to the office suites for admitting privileges/procedures.
“We have office practices akin to faculty practice offices across America in tertiary care centres. We also have in our Ikoyi office suite telemedicine’s latest technology with Nigeria’s new satellite-NIGCOMSAT and also broadband.
“Telemedicine facilities will be available for tele-consultation, tele-education and distance learning, as we develop a ‘central clearing house’ for Nigeria tertiary care consultative service for diagnostic challenges with Cleveland e-clinic for Nigerian patients.
“We have made some strides in transferring large bandwidth of digital radiologic and pathologic images between Lagos/Abuja and North America overseas experts. This is our modest beginning. We have few highly experienced physicians living in Nigeria who will serve as ‘in-house’ experts and add value,” he said.
The effort has been made possible with support of some donors in U.S. and also in Nigeria (all for non-profit status), coupled with transparency policy of trustees’ board management.
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=97109:nigerians-in-diaspora-volunteer-to-boost-tertiary-healthcare&catid=93:science&Itemid=608ADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-81808445106546734182012-08-30T17:40:00.000+01:002012-08-30T17:40:03.962+01:00Why is it important to prevent anaemia in pregnancy?Anaemia in pregnancy is still a major health problem in Nigeria, especially among new mothers. Besides, experts warn that it is important that women prevent anaemia in pregnancy because it affects both the growth of their babies before they are born and afterwards, reports Sade Oguntola.
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Many pregnant women feel reluctant taking folic acid and iron tablets, a common prescription by doctors. The usual excuse is that they are not sick and it is not important that these drugs be taken every day. But the worsening economic situation of many families and lack of consumption of leafy vegetables and a balanced diet, can all combine to make women give birth to low birth weight infants due to anaemia.
Anaemia is a major hazard during pregnancy, especially in the last trimester of pregnancy. This is a condition in which you don’t have enough red cells in your blood. Red blood cells contain haemoglobin, which carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. If a person’s haemoglobin level is very low, the body tissues will not be getting enough oxygen.
About 40 per cent of pregnant women worldwide are estimated to be anaemic, and iron and folic acid supplementation during pregnancy is commonly prescribed to prevent anaemia in pregnancy, which is often caused by iron deficiency.
During pregnancy, there is high iron requirement, almost three times required for non-pregnant women of childbearing age, which is difficult to meet from dietary sources. Also, anaemia, caused by iron deficiency alone or in combination with other factors such as folic acid or vitamin A deficiency and malaria, has several negative effects on the pregnant woman and her unborn child.
The benefits of iron and folic acid supplementation surpass what was previously perceived by many people. According to a new study that analysed the long-term effects of iron and folic acid supplementation in pregnancy on childhood survival, the use of these supplements during pregnancy ensures that babies are healthy and better protected from diseases during childhood.
The researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggested that taking folic acid and iron supplements in pregnancy might reduce infant mortality by 31 per cent in children less than age seven. What is more, intakes of these medicines reduced the occurrence of low birth weight by 16 per cent and anaemia in a pregnant woman and after the birth period by 50 per cent.
This was a study that recruited almost 5,000 pregnant women in rural Nepal to take part in the randomised, double-blind, controlled trial. The women were divided into five groups: one group received folic acid only; the second group received folic acid plus iron; the third received folic acid plus iron plus zinc; the fourth received multiple micronutrients and the final group received vitamin A and acted as the control group. It was a follow-up to a 1999 to 2001 trial of the administration of micronutrients to women during pregnancy.
Out of the 4,130 babies born alive, 209 died in the first three months and eight were lost to follow-up. Of the 3,761 remaining, the researchers report in the American Journal of Epidemiology that 150 died between the ages of three months and seven years, while 152 were lost to follow-up.
Given a 31 per cent increase in childhood survival, due to intakes of iron and folic acid tablets, both during and after pregnancy, they declared that this should provide additional motivation to increase global programmes for antenatal iron and folic acid supplementation.
Dr Kayode Afolabi, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, explained that anaemia was a serious hazard both to the pregnant woman and her unborn baby because of its complications. “If you look at the mother who is anaemic during pregnancy, such a woman is bound to have repeated infections, including malaria, because her body immunity is lowered. Due to the fact that they tolerate many undercurrent diseases much more easily, they stand a higher risk of experiencing more ill healths and even deaths than the average pregnant woman that is not anaemic,” he stated.
Dr Afolabi pointed out that low blood level in a pregnant woman is not good for the unborn baby either. According to him, “anaemia in pregnancy is a known cause of abortion, restricted growth of the baby in the womb; low birth weight and even the death of the baby that is still in the womb. If there is restriction in the growth of the organs of the body, including the brain, when such a baby is eventually born, such may not grow to their full mental potential.”
What accounts for anaemia in pregnancy? According to the expert, “in this environment, we have malaria in pregnancy as a major problem. It causes the breakdown of red blood cells in the body. Also, it depresses the bone marrow from producing more red blood cells to meet the demand of pregnancy, hence leading to an anaemic state.”
In addition, he mentioned other causes of anaemia in pregnancy as urinary tract infection and chest infection as well as poor diet (what is termed nutritional anaemia).
What is, however, worrisome according to Dr Afolabi is that “most of our women, in fact, start pregnancy with less than optimal nutritional status and their condition is made worse by the demands of the unborn baby, the placenta cord attaching the baby to the mother and even the body’s preparation for breast milk production.”
While this could contribute to such women becoming anaemic in pregnancy, he pointed out that many dietary practices in Nigeria further accentuated the problem. “Things like overcooking of vegetables lead to loss of folic acid,” he declared.
Meanwhile, Dr Afolabi declared that the routine prescription of iron and folic acid tablets to pregnant women after 12 weeks of pregnancy was aimed at providing extra supply of these essential ingredients for blood formation, as well as meeting the demands of the baby, placenta and even prepare the woman for breast milk production afterwards.
He said that the use of iron and folic acid tablets in pregnancy could help to improve child survival, considering that the baby would have access to adequate micronutrients in the womb and the baby would develop sufficiently to meet the challenges of early life.
He declared: “Such a baby would have good body immunity, have good body weight and the vital organs in the body would also develop optimally, thus ensuring that during childhood, such a baby would be able to cope better with the challenges of health. Since, the mother is adequately prepared for breast milk production, the baby’s intake of breast milk would boost the body immunity and reduce risk of diarrheal disease, a major killer of children.”
Given that many pregnant women do not conform to their doctors’ instructions to take iron and folic acid tablets, he emphasised the need for educating women on the importance of taking these medicines. “It could be a bit difficult if a woman does not understand why she must take these medicines three times in a day, throughout the period of pregnancy, when she is not sick,” he declared.
For a healthy pregnancy, he advised that pregnant women should book for antenatal care early, rest, eat a balanced diet, maintain good personal hygiene and stick to other advice they are given by their doctors.
http://www.tribune.com.ng/index.php/your-health/46746-why-is-it-important-to-prevent-anaemia-in-pregnancy-ADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-82910685036183849182012-08-30T17:38:00.005+01:002012-08-30T17:38:47.525+01:00Nigeria’s 2015 MDG targets won’t be achieved unless… – DonBy DAUD OLATUNJI, OLADEPO MICHAEL & EMMANUEL IBUWARISO
ABEOKUTA— Professor Opeyemi Ajewole of University of Ibadan, Wednesday, predicted that Nigeria’s 2015 Millenium Development Goal targets will not be achieved unless state and local governments take their responsibilities proactively.
The University Don however tasked the Chairmen of the 20 local government areas of Ogun State to strive in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs.
Speaking as a resource person at the 3-day leadership workshop titled, “Enhancing Local Government Leadership in Ogun State,” jointly organised by the MDG office, Ken Nnamadi Centre for Leadership and Ogun State government in Abeokuta,
Ajewole said local governments are closer to the grass roots in providing basic services which impact directly upon the MDGs.
“The more local governments are able to target and develop the right interventions, the better will be the results on poverty reduction, health, sustainable development and education.”
The role of local councils is very crucial to the attainment of the goals under Millennium Declaration”,he said..
The Special Adviser to the Ogun State governor on Millennium Development Goal, Mrs. Hafsat Abiola-Costello in her remarks advised the chairmen to be ready to take tough decisions that would engender development within the 20 council areas of the state.
According to her , though, local government is facing some financial challenges but the current poor performance can be improved upon if the new leadership are ready to initiate developmental programmes.
Meantime, the Chairman of Isagamu Local Government in Ogun state, Mrs Funmilayo Efuwape, has promised to curb down cultism both in Isagamu and Ogijo communities of Ogun state, noting that Isagamu is going back to full peace.
Speaking with Vanguard in Ogun, the newly elected Chairlady of the Isagamu Local Government said during her tenure there will not be insecurity in the area, stressing that by providing good jobs, passing good orientation programs and engaging youths in physical and urban developmental projects, issues of security would have been well handled.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/08/nigerias-2015-mdg-targets-wont-be-achieved-unless-don/ADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-87221345818210937192012-08-30T17:38:00.002+01:002012-08-30T17:38:11.051+01:00Nigeria: Okigbo Takes Free Medical Health to AnambraA TEAM of doctors and medical assistants from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Medical School in Nnewi, Anambra State, was recently in the Ojoto Community of the State. to provide free medical services to the residents.
Led by Dr. Chinelo Okigbo, a health practitioner at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA, the team conducted tests and treatment for prevalent yet silent killer diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and obesity. There was also counselling on malaria prevention, hygiene and healthy living. Over 1,000 persons benefitted from the free medical programme that was facilitated by Mr. Patrick Okigbo III, Principal Partner of Nextier Advisory and brother to Dr. Chinelo Okigbo.
The programme is part of the outfit's commitment to community development, Okigbo noted. Nextier Advisory, a leading public sector advisory and investment firm based in Abuja with specific focus on agriculture, power and petroleum industries, is committed to funding grassroots humanitarian efforts in healthcare, education, and enterprise.
In a chat, Okigbo said free medical programmes have become a critical effort by his firm. The current one, was the second in series in Ojoto after the debut in 2008. The firm collaborates with committed individuals and groups in a community to identify the best form of intervention that will yield the most impact.
Once decided, Nextier Advisory contributes a percentage of the programme cost while their community partners contribute the balance. Ojoto Akanasato Union under the leadership of its president, Prince Amobi Adirika (former Managing Director of Anambra Broadcasting Service), took care of the logistics for the visiting medical team. Essence of the programme is to foster a sense of community ownership.
One of the beneficiaries, Madam Gladys Okeke, prayed for commitment and resources to sustain the programme while another, Mrs. Ego Nnoluka, who was diagnosed with high blood pressure, said she had learned how to manage her condition.
Ms. Vivian Egbuna, Matron of the community health centre however expressed need for a resident doctor at the health center noting that "Even a Youth Corper doctor would be a great help to this community."
In her view, Dr. Chinelo Okigbo, a specialist in maternal and child healthcare, confirmed that most of the deaths in the local communities were from preventable ailments that, if detected early, could have been prevented with lifestyle changes. She promised to analyse the data collated from this and other Nextier-funded medical efforts to develop a policy paper on new approaches to medical intervention in local communities.
The Nextier Advisory CEO acknowledged that the free medical programmes are not the sustainable solution to healthcare delivery in Nigeria, but adduced for sustained intersection of good public policy and concerted action from the private and the public sector.
Hence, Nextier Advisory has committed to continuing their interventions in the local communities.
He acknowledged that the bulk of the solution is with the public sector and its policy choices; however, he affirmed that there is a lot that can be done by individuals. "When a small group of thoughtful, committed people apply themselves to a problem, miracles begin to happen. I believe there are enough of us to change Nigeria."
http://allafrica.com/stories/201208280429.htmlADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-47410965851132973112012-08-30T17:14:00.003+01:002012-08-30T17:14:52.323+01:00Nigeria: FG Scales Up Special Sickle Cell Centres NationwideSICKLE cell centres in the six geo-political zones of the country are to be scaled up following plans by the Federal Government to step up sickle management and care in the country.
Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu who disclosed this in Lagos at a book presentation entitled "Sickle Cell Disorder:Early Warning Signals" by Dabma Sickle Cell Foundation in collaboration with Genotype Foundation and the Health Writers Association of Nigeria, HEWAN, said the scale up was part of strategies to holistically tackle the burden of Sickle Cell Disorder, SCD, in Nigeria.
Chukwu who was represented by a Desk Officer for Sickle Cell Disorder in the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Alayo Shopekun, explained that the centres would be dedicated to the management, control and prevention of SCD.
Lamenting the plight of people living with the disorder, Chukwu said SCD is associated with poverty, maternal mortality, newborn and child mortality and HIV& AIDS particularly in those with history of frequent blood transfusion, stigmatisation, and bias in terms of job selection amongst others. "The foregoing picture for this hereditary disorder therefore calls for urgent attention,"he added
He announced that a national guideline on the control and management of the disease was in advanced stage to ensure that care provided at the health facilities are informed and conform with international best practice.s
The special centres for SCD have been provided with variant machines to ensure that diagnosis of the disorder is accurate and that suspected newborns are screened for the disorder and interventions and follow up could be instituted to ensure survival and improved quality of life for such children.
Also, a database on the disorder is expected to be set up to provide information for effective planning and policy decision on the disorder.
Earlier, writer of the book and Chairman, Dabma Sickle Cell Foundation, Pastor Emmanuel Ibekwe said Nigeria accounts three quarters of live births into the disorder in Sub_Saharan Africa, which is equivalent of 150,000 out of every 200,000 births in the region shows the stark reality of the disorder and the need to urgently address it to save lives as well as reduce related ailments.
Ibekwe opined that his practical ordeal of victims of SCD influences his emotional connection to his writings to fight against the disorder.
"We are here to launch a book that reveals why victims of the disorder keep wiping tear drenched faces daily not knowing where and when the pain shall come to an end due to the complications.
"Many go into crisis and all of a sudden their health takes a drastic turn around for the worst."
"We are appealing to stakeholders to support education through adoption of schools and libraries, providing books on our experiences as instructional materials for public enlightenment and awareness among other things," he added
He called on the federal government to develop and encourage the non-for-profit social sector with a view to reducing the burden of the disorder.
In his presentation, President, HEWAN, Mr. Azoma Chikwe, said the Association's participation is to "re-dedicate commitment to addressing sickle cell anaemia. As health writers, our impact must be felt in the environment we live."
According to him, HEWAN's partnership with Dabma would go a long way in disseminating needed information on how to prevent or manage the disease to a large, scattered and heterogeneous population of the Nigerian community.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201208280423.htmlADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-65650967577733862572012-08-30T17:11:00.002+01:002012-08-30T17:13:40.331+01:00Time is ripe for breakthrough on child mortality, says senior Unicef official
Unicef doctor says investment now could help meet millennium development goals on tackling child and maternal mortality
• Explore our interactive on tackling child mortality
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A mother and her children collect water in the Lira district of northern Uganda. Photograph: Jonathan Porter/Alamy.
An intense focus on countries with the highest levels of child mortality combined with the availability of cheaper vaccines and medicines can lead to a development breakthrough, according to a senior UN health expert.
Dr Mickey Chopra, chief health officer at Unicef, the UN children's agency, said investment now would lead to massive strides in meeting the millennium development goals of reducing maternal deaths by three-quarters (MDG4) and the deaths of children under five by two-thirds (MDG5), both by 2015.
"If we make the kind of investment we need now, which is not huge, we could achieve a 'man on the moon' moment," Chopra told the Guardian. "We have a clearer idea why and where children are dying. Twenty-four countries account for 80% of the deaths. We know where they are dying within those countries. Combined with effective interventions such as vaccines and breastfeeding, we have the potential to reach kids in the most cost-effective manner."
Since 1990, annual maternal deaths have declined by almost half and the deaths of young children have fallen from 12 million to 7.6 million in 2010. Some of the world's poorest countries have achieved impressive progress in reducing child deaths. Rates of child mortality in many African countries have been dropping twice as fast in recent years as during the 1990s.
In Botswana, Egypt, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda and Tanzania, the rate of decline was on average more than 5% a year between 2000 and 2010. Similar progress has been made in reducing maternal deaths, although in fewer developing countries: Equatorial Guinea, Nepal and Vietnam have each cut maternal deaths by 75%.
However, many countries – especially in Africa and south Asia – are not making progress. According to Countdown 2015, an umbrella group of academics, donors and NGOs that tracks progress in maternal and child survival, only nine of 74 Countdown countries with available data are on track to achieve MDG5. Eight of them (Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Laos, Nepal and Vietnam) are also on track to achieve MDG4.
Chopra said countries such as Niger and Nepal had made significant progress on child mortality even without fast economic growth or significant poverty reduction. "In Niger, child mortality dropped by 47% in 10 years," he said. "It went from 227 down to 125 per 1,000 births. Niger concentrated on getting health workers into rural areas with simple interventions. The exciting thing is that with the money we have now, we can buy more medicines and save far more lives."
Countdown said analysis for 2010 showed that 64% of child deaths were attributable to infectious disease and 40% occurred during the neo-natal period. The leading causes of death among older children remain pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria. Chopra said new, more effective and cheap anti-malaria drugs that can be delivered by community workers to people's homes held out great potential. "The new drugs are much more effective and can be delivered quickly to kids who need it most," he said.
Over the course of the decade, global malaria deaths have dropped by an estimated 38%, with 43 countries (11 of them in Africa) cutting cases or deaths by 50% or more. This is down to more effective drugs (artemisin combination therapies) – although there are reports of growing resistance to the new drugs, rapid diagnostic tests, long-lasting insecticidal nets (developed since 2000), better policies, and increased resources (human and financial), including distribution of enough bednets to cover nearly 80% of the population at risk in sub-Saharan Africa.
Other means of reducing child mortality, such as handwashing and breastfeeding, come down to education rather than money. Modifying behaviour can be difficult, but not impossible. Chopra pointed to Uganda, where education has led to a significant increase in breastfeeding. "It is possible to change behaviour and it is being done and can be done in a short period of time," he said.
The promotion of handwashing in schools in China, Colombia and Egypt has led to a drop in primary school absenteeism due to diarrhoea or respiratory infections of between 20% and 50%.
Still, money will be needed to help achieve MDGs on child and maternal mortality, but official development assistance for maternal and child health appears to have plateaued in 2009 after increasingly steadily over the past decade, according to Countdown. In 2009, total official development assistance for maternal, infant and child health increased by 14.1% to $4.5bn from 2008. This compared with increases of 17.1% from 2006 to 2007 and 21.2% from 2007 to 2008.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/aug/28/breakthrough-child-mortality-unicef-official?newsfeed=trueADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-44873156025242441242012-08-30T17:07:00.002+01:002012-08-30T17:07:16.417+01:00Bassir-Thomas presents book on health research funding
THE Bassir-Thomas Biomedical Foundation (BTBF) will next week present a new book titled: Masks and Pandemic: Who Should Fund Health Research in Nigeria?
The book is made up of contributions from some of Nigeria’s eminent medical scientists who advocated that health research initiative and its funding in Nigeria should not be abandoned to foreign donors.
Chairman BTBF, Prof. David Okpako, noted that the book underscores the legacy of the founder, the late Prof. Horatio Oritsejolomi-Thomas who led the way in advocating that Nigerian government and people must empower indigenous scientists.
This is to encourage the scientists to take initiatives at identifying priorities in health research into human and animal diseases that are of particular interest to the Nigerian people.
The new book notes the danger of abandoning health research and funding to agencies like the World Health Organisation (WHO) and foreign donors in the long-term.
Okpako, who also edited the work, added that while the work appealed to governments to budget specifically for health research in Nigeria, it also drew the attention of wealthy Nigerians to the importance of supporting health research for the long-term benefit of the Nigerian people.
The book will be presented at the 14th Horatio Oritsejolomi-Thomas lecture on Friday, September 7, 2012 at the Drapers’ Hall, Institute of Africa, University of Ibadan.
Theme of the lecture is “Countdown to 2015: Community engagement for improved maternal health and newborn health,” to be delivered by Country Director, Jhpiego (Nigeria), Prof. Emmanuel ’Dipo Otolorin.
President, Nigeria-America Chamber of Commerce, Mazi Sam Ohanbunwa and Group Chairman, Bond Industries, Asiwaju Debo Omotosho will present the book, while Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Isaac Adewole chairs the event.
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=97108:bassir-thomas-presents-book-on-health-research-funding&catid=93:science&Itemid=608ADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-13836365341198162542012-03-28T11:01:00.001+01:002012-03-28T11:15:52.786+01:00WIN US A TRUCK AND HELP OUR CAUSE!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRjgnGq0EjxOVuJ1mlj1mP1uONHITLE7ZIss5Ae_Zt5k98klfMB3hkifyyWIfV1kQiE9ZwkVMVJhBNHp9b8LPNetTMM6JUueZHVfnjVkORIDthlp2qe25J_F4GYs9z13lJwBkAi-Lumh2v/s1600/Free-healthcare-004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRjgnGq0EjxOVuJ1mlj1mP1uONHITLE7ZIss5Ae_Zt5k98klfMB3hkifyyWIfV1kQiE9ZwkVMVJhBNHp9b8LPNetTMM6JUueZHVfnjVkORIDthlp2qe25J_F4GYs9z13lJwBkAi-Lumh2v/s320/Free-healthcare-004.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
My name is Tolu Omooba Akinboye. I am an Animal farmer with a farm in Ogun/Osun State where I breed organic pigs, and poultry.<br />
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Although a very busy farmer, I make out time to give back to my community by volunteering with various charities involved in improving healthcare results and statistics in Nigeria. In 2009, I volunteered with a Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) focused on reducing Maternal and Infant death in Nigeria and my work with this NGO was a great eye opener for me.<br />
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Maternal mortality rate (MMR) is the annual number of female deaths per 100,000 live births from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy or its management (excluding accidental or incidental causes). The MMR includes deaths during pregnancy, childbirth, or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, for a specified year<br />
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Maternal health is a critical topic in global development. Maternal ill health and death impacts families, communities, and societies and has far reaching effects across socio-economic strata. Despite recent data showing a positive turning point in the battle to keep mothers alive through pregnancy and childbirth, 342,900 women die each year from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.<br />
Every year, more than 133 million babies are born, 90 per cent in low and middle income countries.<br />
Every year, three million babies are stillborn. Almost one quarter of these babies die during birth. The causes of these deaths are similar to the cause of maternal death: obstructed or prolonged labour, eclampsia, and infection such as syphilis.<br />
Among the 133 million babies who are born alive each year, 2.8 million die in the first week of life and slightly less than one million in the following three weeks.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi7YDiWPlSG-3uUNVlN3S_K0BVBDoH062mS74x0Y0HdjnyH3f4RT_ahOf8ElZva6WX0DN_-RkqBRyxe4CduMpkpCixOkO2P4Acz_TiFb7b21ugpP9Cqx8w6Kcrm2g-SeIMD6n0DyaX3YKF/s1600/black+family1.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="201" width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi7YDiWPlSG-3uUNVlN3S_K0BVBDoH062mS74x0Y0HdjnyH3f4RT_ahOf8ElZva6WX0DN_-RkqBRyxe4CduMpkpCixOkO2P4Acz_TiFb7b21ugpP9Cqx8w6Kcrm2g-SeIMD6n0DyaX3YKF/s320/black+family1.bmp" /></a></div><br />
<b>Nigeria<br />
</b>Maternal mortality rate: 840 deaths/100,000 live births (2008)<br />
Nigeria’s maternal mortality rate is at an unacceptably high level. It is estimated that one in eight women die yearly of pregnancy-related complications. <br />
Nigeria has the second highest rate of maternal death in the world: In Nigeria, approximately one plane load of pregnant women die every day!; with an estimated 608 deaths per 100,000 deliveries, Nigeria ranks second only to India in the list of nations with the worst child mortality.<br />
Every Nigerian is only four (4) persons away from knowing someone that died from child birth alone!! <br />
Women in Nigeria still have an average of six children each, and, according to the 2008 edition of the Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey, 20 per cent of married women of reproductive age want to space or limit births, but are not using any method of family planning.<br />
The low usage of family planning services calls for greater private health sector involvement to complement the Nigerian government’s effort in providing family planning and reproductive health services to its citizens. <br />
In the Northern part of the country, VVF is very common mostly due to lack of the care needed during pregnancy. And when this occurs their system becomes damaged; carrying out their daily activities becomes difficult. Worst of all is that most husbands leave their wives to suffer the pain alone without providing the care they need.<br />
Nigeria is still battling to achieve regular power supply in the 21st century, a time where virtually every activity of man has gone digital and most hospitals are not excluded from this reign of darkness. Some women are operated upon using candles or kerosene lamps in the theatre.<br />
Most maternal deaths are avoidable, as the health care solutions to prevent or manage the complications are well known.<br />
Therefore, for Nigeria to achieve an accelerated success in improving maternal health, quality health system and barriers to access health services must be identified and tackled at all levels, even down to the grassroots. Proper education should be adequately given to pregnant women on how to take care of themselves during pregnancy.<br />
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I also realized in the course of my work that a sizeable percentage of maternal and infant death could be averted if pregnant women and mothers were empowered with information. Yet in Nigeria there remains a low level of information dissemination to pregnant women and nursing mothers especially in rural areas; healthcare information that could assist these women in improving their health, the health of their children and subsequently their survival rates. <br />
On this basis, I and a group of like minded young Nigerians created the Advocacy for Maternal and Infant Health in Nigeria (AMIHIN). AMIHIN is a non-profit making NGO created with the objective of reducing maternal and infant mortality in poor communities in Nigeria by providing relevant healthcare information and best practice updates to pregnant women and mothers in these communities. <br />
The AMIHIN team comprises of medical and healthcare professionals, lawyers and other career professionals who are intent on contributing to the improvement of Nigerian maternal and infant mortality statistics.<br />
AMIHIN projects currently include: <br />
1. Collation of maternal and infant mortality causal data across the various states in Nigeria. <br />
2. Provision of up-to-date maternal and child care information to pregnant women and mothers using traditional storytelling and cultural dance troupes in communities all over Nigeria. The tour will also include medical professionals who will be on hand to answer questions and provide practical advice <br />
One of the main concerns we have had so far in the course of these projects has been transportation.<br />
I have entered the Ford Ranger Challenge in the hope of winning a Ford Ranger truck which will serve not just as a means of transport on my farm but also a tool for transporting AMIHIN materials and personnel across the country in the course of our various projects. <br />
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AMIHIN is my passion and the project I now devote a lot of my time to. The Ford Ranger truck is more than a truck for a simple farmer; it is to us at AMIHIN a truck to facilitate the reduction of maternal and infant mortality in Nigeria. <br />
Help our cause!!<br />
Please <b>Vote Tolu Omooba as Ford Challenge Winner</b>. Go to the link:http://www.fordrangerchallengessa.com/contests/showentry/1011431<br />
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<a href="http://www.fordrangerchallengessa.com/contests/showentry/1011431"></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXaF59qgRSLXBQHcgp-MKkv6-wH3WJn2x_4WhhD2d34UyRnrM6ccc71T-7m7Hu-8z1Ly9OrlvT41-qzTZcgwYm8-xG3_RUBEqsaC61UWg7wI0IAu3GXw9sKpAOZnAzqQZRNAfSLh4x7QNf/s1600/ford1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="213" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXaF59qgRSLXBQHcgp-MKkv6-wH3WJn2x_4WhhD2d34UyRnrM6ccc71T-7m7Hu-8z1Ly9OrlvT41-qzTZcgwYm8-xG3_RUBEqsaC61UWg7wI0IAu3GXw9sKpAOZnAzqQZRNAfSLh4x7QNf/s400/ford1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Follow us on twitter @amihn2000<br />
For more details or to discuss our work, send a message to us at: amihn2000@gmail.comADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-14954112804765476432012-03-26T12:52:00.000+01:002012-03-26T12:52:45.472+01:00Greece 53.5% Debt Write-down: Nigeria and Africa can do betterNigeria received 18 percent write-down on her 2006 debt payment, Greece received 53.5 percent<br />
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History was made when the highly indebted Greece received 53.5 percent write down restructuring on her initial debt deal from its sovereign bondholders. The struggling southern European nation "Greece implemented the biggest debt write-down in history ... swapping the bulk of its privately-held bonds with new ones worth less than half their original value. Although the exchange will keep Greece solvent and at the receiving end of billions in international rescue loans, markets were underwhelmed amid fears that the country's debt load still remains far too heavy,” Associated Press reported.<br />
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To enforce the debt swap the application of collective action clauses was utilized to approach the rate of 95.7 percent as was confirmed by Greece finance department. The Greece bond holders will be losing 53.5 percent of the face value of the original bonds. As this deal went through it will lower Greece debt by $190 and prepare the country for the second round European bail-out.<br />
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Bloomberg stated that "Holders of at least 60 percent of the Greek bonds eligible for the deal, including Greece’s largest banks, most of the country’s pension funds and more than 30 European banks and insurers including BNP Paribas SA and Commerzbank AG (CBK), have agreed to the offer. That brings the total to at least 125 billion euros ($166 billion), based on data compiled by Bloomberg from company reports and government statements."<br />
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Associated Press further reported that the scope and dimension of the deal was made known by statement issued by Greece Finance Ministry that the “bonds issued under Greek law with a total face value of €177.2 billion ($232.5 billion) were exchanged. A smaller batch worth €28.5 billion, issued under foreign law or by state enterprises, will be swapped in coming weeks."<br />
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Nigeria during her exit from 2006 Paris Club of Creditors was granted a merely 18 percent write down for her $36 billion she owned to mostly European creditors. At the end of deal Nigeria paid almost $(15-20) billion to pay off the debt. The international media made sure that every person and hamlet heard about the 'wonderful and generous’ news on how Nigeria has been offered a great helping hand from the Paris club of Creditors. The only one thing that was missing on the news report was the original principal amount Nigeria owned and the subsequent higher interest rates and arrears that made it possible to transfer such an enormous wealth to the foreign syndicates.<br />
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Greece is not by any means a third world nation, it has modern infrastructures and her people are relatively secured. Greece has 24 hours electricity, clean and treated drinking water gushing out from the water pumps, paved roads together with well paid, trained and equipped police force that maintained peace and order. Greece has political stability and security that made it possible to attract investors. All things being equal, why was Greece given this enormous write down and Nigeria a relatively poor and third world country was not given a quantifiable break that will make a difference in the lives of average Nigerians?<br />
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At the time Nigeria was convinced to transfer almost $20 billion to first world and developed nations mostly in the continental Europe, seventy percent of Nigerians were living in penury poverty and depravity surviving with less than $1 per day. The ugly head of AIDS/HIV virus was enveloping the nation and the healthcare facility was in dire straits. Nigeria's high infant mortality rate was among the highest in the world averaging 200-300 per 1000 live births. Nigerian educational system was in shambles and teachers' salaries in most cases were insufficient and were rarely paid on time. There was and still poor security, the protection of lives and property were minimal. Yet with all these wellbeing abysmal indices Nigeria received only 18 percent write-down even with the ever and continuous servicing of the debt from time immemorial.<br />
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Many of these nations in southern hemisphere especially in Africa have to qualify as a Heavily Poor indebted countries (HPIC) before they can receive debt relief and write down. Many African nations that were struggling to pay their debts were saddle with austerity measures before they qualifying for HPIC and these stringent conditions and criteria are back breaking. The prescriptions have more deadly than the disease - those conditional ties leave them poorer with infant industries porous to protection, less productive, weaken currencies and in financial shambles. But Greece has not even implement its own austerity measures before she received almost 53.5 percent write down on its first debt deal.<br />
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To further compensate Greece for mustering the courage to make debt deal, IMF just approved euro28 billion ($36.56 billion) for Greece. The European Investment Bank (EIB) will soon be putting a finishing touch to disburse $1.31 billion to Greece.<br />
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The goodies are still flowing into Greece, Reuters reported, “Greece averted the immediate threat of an uncontrolled default on Friday, winning strong acceptance from its private creditors for a bond swap deal which will eat into its mountainous public debt and clear the way for a new bailout” and now "With euro zone ministers set to approve the 130 billion euro ($172 billion) rescue." <br />
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International Monetary Fund (IMF) was quite impressed with the just concluded deal made by Greece that was why it approved euro28 billion ($36.56 billion) in the absence of austerity measures that suppose to come when Greece will make its second debt deal. IMF is now logical even patient and benevolent to Greece. But IMF did not have any qualms counseling Nigeria to remove fuel subsidy for a nation that barely provide any social program to its masses. IMF did not see anything wrong for a poor country with over 170 million population to make a payment that was too perplexing for a nation struggling on how to feed its bulging poor population.<br />
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There was a back drop that probably made it possible for Greece to successfully complete the debt deal. Last December the energetic and trail blazer Mario Draghi, the head of Europen Central Bank (ECB) lower the interest rate to 1 percent and pumped in 500 billion euros into the euro zone monetary base. At the interest rate of 1 percent ECB has just started to play a vital role in eurozone's monetary policy and this is a gutsy role for once a low key and timid ECB. With problem of liquidity solved, the solvent banks and private financial institutions were ebullient and energetic to participate in adjusting the economic wellbeing of eurozone.<br />
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This is how Reuters put it: "Mario Draghi, 64, has taken the helm of the euro zone's most important institution in the midst of Europe's deepest financial crisis since World War Two. He faces a seemingly impossible mission: satisfying German demands to focus on the ECB's main mandate of ensuring price stability, while at the same time dealing with market and political pressure from other countries to steer Europe out of a debt crisis that has engulfed Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and even his native Italy. The back-to-back rate cuts took the euro zone's interest rate to a record low of 1.0 percent. But they also sent a clear message that Draghi's ECB would be decisive, pragmatic and prepared to ignore its powerful German contingent."<br />
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The point must be succinctly made that no one is suggesting that Nigeria and African nations not to deleverage their debts and fulfill their financial obligations. Greece has shown that the private sector and international financial institutions could be logical when they deem it necessary. Africa also deserves same treatment.<br />
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<i>Emeka Chiakwelu is the Principal Policy Strategist at Afripol Organization. Africa Political and Economic Strategic Center (Afripol) is foremost a public policy center whose fundamental objective is to broaden the parameters of public policy debates in Africa. To advocate, promote and encourage free enterprise, democracy, sustainable green environment, human rights, conflict resolutions, transparency and probity in Africa. http://afripol.org. strategist@afripol.org<br />
</i><br />
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http://www.groundreport.com/Business/Greece-53-5-Debt-Write-down-Nigeria-and-Africa-can/2945065ADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-49401426424314044812012-03-26T12:31:00.000+01:002012-03-26T12:31:57.881+01:00Mobile Maternal Health Programme: Global One 2015 in Nigeria<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIlBZMkeZsj28qFiKSTEaQyDa2Jz5sqG7otViJPKO5FmovxWycBdD8ME6MKpbjIgYdMs2HzuztJM6jfR9XrNh8Xv6ATDHv8EZPE9B0eh7XSqk3zOBeffLzXUX16MC5sXbYAnXFMGRgav1K/s1600/mobil+clinic1" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIlBZMkeZsj28qFiKSTEaQyDa2Jz5sqG7otViJPKO5FmovxWycBdD8ME6MKpbjIgYdMs2HzuztJM6jfR9XrNh8Xv6ATDHv8EZPE9B0eh7XSqk3zOBeffLzXUX16MC5sXbYAnXFMGRgav1K/s320/mobil+clinic1" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiolUy_-5L3Ek3wWrz-O4W_G7nB9QHKb0agqlhb6wWDwDzLq0TeyFlVZimiu_v_3pD8UqXLy0Qup0VrMnfxEqURlXig4G1VJYBOujHWqa4kk0KH8ey0iFyAGmRnuhrrCZ0yz_aREADrXL-E/s1600/mobile+clinic" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="214" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiolUy_-5L3Ek3wWrz-O4W_G7nB9QHKb0agqlhb6wWDwDzLq0TeyFlVZimiu_v_3pD8UqXLy0Qup0VrMnfxEqURlXig4G1VJYBOujHWqa4kk0KH8ey0iFyAGmRnuhrrCZ0yz_aREADrXL-E/s320/mobile+clinic" /></a></div><br />
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Global One 2015's mobile maternal health programme, which serves pregnant women, mothers, children under five and the gynaecological problems of women between pregnancies and older women, is currently operating in Delta state, in southern Nigeria. The programme is being delivered locally by the Red Cross. The focus of the programme is on at-risk rural women with significant obstacles that prevent them receiving maternal healthcare for antenatal, child birth and post-child birth (puerperium) stages, as well as between pregnancy gynaecology care. By at-risk is meant women with symptoms and/or other features that make it likely for them to die in pregnancy, child birth, or after child birth, or to have severe ill health (severe morbidity), and to equally risk the death of the unborn child or predispose the child to ill health and/or death after birth. The programme will identify these women and get them the specialised healthcare they require. The programme is a pilot, which will be scaled up depending on the willingness of new donors to come on board for an extended programme.<br />
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http://go2015.blogspot.com/2012/03/mobile-maternal-health-programme-global.htmlADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-61125347875867104602012-03-26T12:11:00.000+01:002012-03-26T12:11:40.548+01:00How the developing world is using cellphone technology to change lives<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguAW1fTaXgpmyYLe68pwv4G62o6WTqKXSIZKeu8evwrqKrz7lX-ncGwfRoTmZIWvtCDrN-evSpeu96UJdJfxykMqqAO1O_Aj2SGPePkJ1ZCoyZNVAnJmY4vQWNey_ey4UzsWIK5-IbmLzD/s1600/rural+mobile+phone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="266" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguAW1fTaXgpmyYLe68pwv4G62o6WTqKXSIZKeu8evwrqKrz7lX-ncGwfRoTmZIWvtCDrN-evSpeu96UJdJfxykMqqAO1O_Aj2SGPePkJ1ZCoyZNVAnJmY4vQWNey_ey4UzsWIK5-IbmLzD/s400/rural+mobile+phone.jpg" /></a></div><i>Many places are jumping straight from paper records to mobile information because they are getting cellphone towers before Internet connections or even traditional phone lines. A man makes a phone call at a calling centre on top of the Bisie mine in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.<br />
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<i>LUCAS OLENIUK/TORONTO STAR<br />
Tim Alamenciak<br />
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In Nigeria, a young girl can ask questions about sex discretely through SMS and get accurate information.<br />
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After the earthquake in Haiti, survivors in remote towns could receive money for food straight to their cellphone.<br />
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In Senegal, election monitors sent updates on polling stations through their mobile phones, revising an online map in real time with details about late openings or worse.<br />
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Projects like Learning about Living in Nigeria, MercyCorps in Haiti and Senevote2012 in Senegal are just a few examples of how the rapid spread of mobile technology has changed life in the global south.<br />
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Many places are jumping straight from paper records to mobile information because they are getting cellphone towers before Internet connections or even traditional phone lines. This means that for the first time it’s possible for a doctor in Guatemala City to monitor a newborn baby in a rural part of the country.<br />
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“People who never had access to information can get to a telecentre or a computer at their church or they have a mobile phone even if they share that mobile phone with their whole family and everyone just has their own SIM card,” said Revi Sterling, director of Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD) graduate studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder.<br />
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“If that’s your data collection tool instead of papers that get blown away and eaten by goats, that’s valuable,” said Sterling.<br />
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Sterling founded the master’s program in 2010 to help produce students who could capitalize on the boom of connectivity in the developing world. It focuses on building connections between the world of technology and the world of development — something many see as a lucrative opportunity.<br />
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In 2001, just eight out of 100 people in the developing world had a mobile phone subscription. Now, nearly 80 out of 100 do. <br />
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In India, more people have access to cellphones than toilets, according to a 2010 report from the United Nations University.<br />
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“I have lots of students who come from an engineering and science background who say, ‘But you can’t eat (network) cable and you can’t drink YouTube,’” said Sterling. “The idea that you could ride the development wave on an emerging trend like technology certainly makes the technology a really indispensable tool.”<br />
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AID <br />
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FrontlineSMS <br />
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This software allows anyone to set up their own communications hub to send mass messages, manage automated SMS systems and collect data from the field. FrontlineSMS allows users to connect their mobile phone to a computer, transforming communication into something more powerful and manageable. <br />
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“If you go to the developing world and you look at how cellphones are being used you can really see that people are already doing this kind of organizational management, communicating with stakeholders, communicating with people they’re working with and for,” said spokesperson Laura Hudson. <br />
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The system enables easier management of SMS messages and also allows users to set up mailing lists, collect data and code automated reply systems. Traditional procedures involved checking in over the phone with remotely dispersed members of, for example, an aid team.<br />
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“Instead of that they can send an SMS. It’s cheaper for them, it saves time and the data can go straight into their report,” said Hudson.<br />
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FrontlineSMS was used to coordinate aid response after the 2011 floods in Pakistan and to manage reconstruction in Haiti. It has also been used to remind HIV patients of best practices and nutritional information.<br />
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Ushahidi <br />
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This project came as a result of post-election violence in Kenya in 2008, when high mobile penetration met a need to know where trouble spots were located. The original idea was to produce a map of violent areas based on reports sent in by citizens via SMS or email. The system has evolved into an open-source platform to be deployed anywhere. Ushahidi has been used to map everything from earthquake damage in Haiti to blizzards in New York. A site called Crowdmap runs the Ushahidi software and allows anyone to sign up and create their own crowd-sourced map without the hassle of using their own server. <br />
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Refugees United<br />
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This project is designed to help refugees reunite with their friends and family. It replaces traditional forms of reconnection, allowing anyone to create a free profile with as much or as little information as they’re comfortable releasing. The profiles allow friends and family members to search under certain criteria, including given name, nickname, village or city of origin. The software works from both computers and internet-enabled phones.<br />
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NextDrop<br />
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One of the challenges with water delivery is predicting when the pipes are going to be opened. In many places this means lineups at the wells, often lasting hours or even days. Being tested in rural India, NextDrop alerts people via SMS 30-60 minutes before the water is turned on. <br />
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FINANCE <br />
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MercyCorps <br />
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In Haiti, where 85 per cent of the population has a cellphone but only half has a bank account, MercyCorps deployed a new way to stimulate the economy after the earthquake: mobile payments. MercyCorps has dispensed more than $1 million (U.S.) to 6,000 people in rural Haiti — all using their cellphones. <br />
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“We pretty early on recognized that mobile was a great tool for (reaching more people) and also a direct channel into the communities where we work,” said Cameron Peake of MercyCorps.<br />
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Peake’s team is now working on a mobile savings system in the Philippines. <br />
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“The financial services area is really a promising and strong area to see financial sustainability,” said Peake. <br />
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M-Pesa <br />
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This system allows Kenyans to use their cellphones to send and receive money. It is designed for people who don’t have bank accounts, enabling them to receive money domestically or from abroad and to pay bills. At its most basic, M-Pesa allows one user to send money to another as simply as sending a text message. The service is wildly popular in Kenya — it processes more transactions domestically than Western Union does globally, according to the International Monetary Fund. Founded by Safaricom and Vodafone, M-Pesa recently introduced M-KESHO, a savings account to complement the service. <br />
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Boom <br />
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This software does one thing — allows for easy money transfer between countries using mobile phones. It costs less than typical wire transfer services. Once the link is established and software registered on both ends, someone in the United States could send money to someone in Mexico with a simple text message. Currently the service works in Mexico and the U.S., with Haiti planned for future rollout.<br />
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AGRICULTURE <br />
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iCow <br />
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Using SMS, the app tracks a cow’s gestation cycle and gives farmers notifications at key moments in a cow’s life. iCow allows farmers to optimize milk production and better monitor calving periods. <br />
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“It’s a little more unique in that there are lots of price apps but iCow gets down to the nitty-gritty, like the gestation period of a cow,” said Sterling.<br />
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Based out of Kenya, the app also helps farmers keep accurate and permanent records of milk production and breeding. It offers tips on farming dairy cows.<br />
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In a June 2011 pilot, farmers using the iCow app reported a 42 per cent increase in income on average. <br />
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The app also features a directory of veterinarians and a call centre that allows farmers to get advice. A recently released feature called iCow Soko allows farmers to trade livestock directly with one another.<br />
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CocoaLink <br />
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Cocoa farmers in Ghana can get a helping hand through CocoaLink, a mobile app that delivers advice and allows rural farmers to have their questions answered without leaving the field. It is a partnership between Hershey’s, the World Cocoa Foundation and Ghana’s Cocoa Board.In Ghana, two out of three cocoa farmers have access to a mobile phone. The program is in its pilot phase, but there are already plans to extend the service to the Ivory Coast.<br />
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mFarm <br />
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mFarm helps farmers in Kenya by relaying market prices through SMS. The software is designed for small-scale farmers who can’t make it to the major marketplace and risk being lied to by middlemen. The app retrieves prices from five major markets, allowing farmers to determine the best prices for their goods.<br />
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NAFIS <br />
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National Farmers Information Services is a service provided by the Kenyan government that gives farmers tips and advice on anything from ostrich farming to beekeeping. The service provides information in both English and Kiswahili through an automated telephone line. NAFIS also maintains a website containing this information as well as commodity price information. <br />
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GOVERNANCE <br />
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Senevote2012 <br />
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The 2012 Senegal election saw a new kind of monitoring develop — independent, observant and connected through mobile technology. A group of people in Senegal have been monitoring elections since 2000, but this year they were dispatched with a mandate to report their findings immediately. <br />
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“It’s a very slow process traditionally. What we did was we took their process, we didn’t change it at all and we just said what we can do here is put a very simple coding system in,” said Jeffrey Allen, program coordinator with Mobile4good. <br />
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Since the monitors all had cellphones, it was just a matter of training them to use the system and send updates to the data collection and mapping software.<br />
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The map highlights both successes and failures, indicating where polling stations opened early or late, and other violations. It has the benefit of providing immediate accountability, but the data is also more easily assessed than if it were recorded on hundreds of sheets of paper.<br />
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“On the one hand, (the observers are) an alert for immediate issues. On the other hand, they’re data collection for the bigger picture so that at the end of the day, the civil society team can look at the data in total, look at everything that happened in the election, and make a pronouncement whether everything was free and fair or not,” said Allen.<br />
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The group is planning on employing the same technology in the upcoming runoff elections March 25.<br />
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Samadhan <br />
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A system is being piloted in India that allows people to file complaints about their government using SMS. The complaints are logged and filed according to their location and type. Once the complaints are registered, the person receives a tracking number and the local government deals with the complaint. The system is currently being tested in the Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh, outside of Bhopal, and Koraput district in Orissa.<br />
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uReport <br />
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uReport is a polling and citizen journalism organization that runs on SMS. Ugandans can respond to polls or text their stories to uReport. The group gathers this information and passes it along to radio and television stations, also publishing polls on its website. The poll results are available on a map. For example, a Jan. 31 poll asked uReport members if they knew female circumcision was illegal. About 76 per cent responded “yes.”<br />
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HEALTH <br />
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Learning about Living <br />
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Youth in Nigeria face strong opposition when it comes to learning about their own sexual health. Mobile4good, the company behind Learning about Living, allows them to discretely seek advice through SMS messaging. The service launched in 2007 and has received more than 400,000 messages. <br />
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“We realized there’s a serious problem with HIV/AIDS and with adolescent pregnancies and abortions — sort of clandestine abortions. A lot of this came from a lack of awareness among young people of how to protect themselves as they were reaching puberty and coming of age in that way,” said Mobile4good’s Allen.<br />
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Live operators trained in sexual health education answer the text messages. <br />
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“It’s not that they didn’t want to know how to protect themselves, it’s that they didn’t have any access to information,” said Allen.<br />
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The project has since been expanded to Senegal and the team is working on deploying it in Morocco. <br />
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TulaSalud <br />
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This project in Guatemala uses technology to help better equip nurses in remote areas in an effort to reduce the infant mortality rate. Its software products allow nurses to track patient data over long periods of time, replacing the need for stacks of charts and forms. The service also offers free phone numbers that practitioners and patients can call to get answers about their health. The project is supported by the Canadian Tula Foundation.<br />
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Childcount+ <br />
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This software allows medical professionals to use their mobile phone to monitor the health of young children and babies. It allows each child to be registered and their data to be tracked electronically, providing valuable insight into their health. The system uses SMS messaging to track specific data about the children and monitor for malnutrition, malaria and other diseases. The software is used at Millennium Villages projects across sub-Saharan Africa.<br />
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Txtalert <br />
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This simple app can make a profound difference in someone’s life, providing reminders when treatment is needed. Anti-retroviral therapy was the original purpose, though the software can be customized to work with any regular treatment or to remind patients of scheduled appointments. The software is free and open source, allowing any medical clinic to use it.<br />
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http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1150416--how-the-developing-world-is-using-cellphone-technology-to-change-livesADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-275902759542296102012-03-26T11:24:00.000+01:002012-03-26T11:24:24.222+01:00Countdown update fosters country accountability, supports Global Strategy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHYIIC33HKs69klk1K_0ERmAwFe47iwexAqVp9iuWCYJWSs0X7o0BO4pJtmlXMQSLX7SlzKAoVjZrTCXMzhUg8nWr_OXJzsQOL-PLqxGDNsdT0fjo6wi8CWDMOb_O_3jnoS1gjHBwyvhv6/s1600/countdown2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="298" width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHYIIC33HKs69klk1K_0ERmAwFe47iwexAqVp9iuWCYJWSs0X7o0BO4pJtmlXMQSLX7SlzKAoVjZrTCXMzhUg8nWr_OXJzsQOL-PLqxGDNsdT0fjo6wi8CWDMOb_O_3jnoS1gjHBwyvhv6/s400/countdown2015.jpg" /></a></div><br />
As follow-up to the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, Countdown to 2015 released Accountability for Maternal, Newborn & Child Survival: An update on progress in priority countries, with updated profiles on high-burden priority countries that account for over 95% of maternal and child deaths. The report will be launched at the 126th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which takes place in Kampala, Uganda from 31 March through 5 April 2012.<br />
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The profiles in this publication highlight how well each country is doing in increasing coverage of high-impact interventions that can save the lives of millions of women and children. The core indicators included in these updated profiles, selected in 2011 by the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health, encompass key elements of the reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) continuum of care. The report also includes a brief report providing a snapshot of progress on these core indicators across the priority countries, revealing promising news as well as challenges that still remain to be addressed.<br />
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Countdown to 2015 is contributing significantly to the global accountability agenda around the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, an unprecedented plan to save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015, which was launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in September 2010. Countdown’s key role in fostering accountability consists of:<br />
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Preparing Countdown profiles focused on the Commission’s indicators—the profiles published in this report will be updated every year with new data and results<br />
Producing global-level analyses, reports, and cross-cutting research on coverage and its determinants<br />
Conducting special analyses to address accountability questions—Countdown research will inform the work of the independent Expert Review Group (iERG), appointed by the Secretary-General to report annually on progress in implementing the Commission’s recommendations regarding reporting, oversight, and accountability<br />
Supporting country-level Countdown processes that include national consultations, workshops, or publications utilizing Countdown data and methodological approaches—Countdown will publish a toolkit to assist countries in implementing their own Countdown processes later in 2012<br />
The country profiles in this publication, customized to showcase the Commission indicators, are adapted from the full, two-page Countdown country profile, which Countdown produces on a roughly two-year cycle. Full country profiles will be included in Countdown’s 2012 Report, which will be published in June 2012.<br />
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http://countdown2015mnch.org/media-centre/2012/accountability-updateADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-43699492522669517862012-03-20T12:03:00.002+00:002012-03-20T12:03:45.707+00:00Nigeria: Bauchi Employs All FG MidwivesBy Ruby Leo<br />
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The Bauchi State government has employed the 144 midwives posted to the state under the Midwives Service Scheme programme (MSS) initiated by Federal Government to reduce maternal and child death in Nigeria.<br />
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The minister of state for Health Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate disclosed this over the weekend while commissioning a completed General Hospital in Bayara, Bauchi State.<br />
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Pate commended Bauchi State for its progress in the health sector acknowledging it as one of the few state's that have employed all Midwives posted to them.<br />
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He said: "Bauchi State is a very committed partner and I want to commend the State Government for all the good work they have been doing in various area of development more particularly in the area of health. There is progress in infrastructure, vehicles, welfare of staff in the health sector with the implementation of the CONHESS and recruitment of the 144 midwife posted to the State Government."<br />
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"Bauchi State is one of the few state that recruit all the 144 midwives that were posted to them this is very commendable". He stressed<br />
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Governor Isa Yuguda, represented by the Deputy Governor Alh. Sagir Aminu Sale, said that the hospital was constructed based on the request made by people in the community.<br />
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According to him, efforts to improve the health sector include, de-centralization of the Ministry of Health for greater efficiency and effectiveness in the healthcare delivery,<br />
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He said that four Agencies were created namely Hospital Management Board, Primary HealthCare Development Agency, Bauchi State Agency for the control of AIDS/TB and Malaria, and State National Health Insurance Scheme (SHIS).<br />
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Earlier the state's commissioner for health, Dr. Sani Abubakar Malami said that the State Government has sponsored 364 health professionals to study all over the country adding that they are already employed.<br />
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He said: "The Government of Bauchi State, under a special arrangement has sponsored a total of 38 students and 6 others to study medicine in Egypt."<br />
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http://allafrica.com/stories/201203200516.htmlADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8634207914823187928.post-78472468675528980852012-03-20T12:00:00.000+00:002012-03-20T12:00:22.553+00:00Polio Eradication Initiativeinterview<br />
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<i>India has been polio free for a year and Nigeria hopes to follow suite, marking out high risk areas where more effort is needed. But the first round of immunisation this year has seen persistent challenges; caregivers refusing the vaccine, children still being missed, and health worker commitment in need of improvement. Pharmacist Inuwa Ya'u, programme officer for Polio Eradication Initiative at the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, monitors implementation of immunisation across states. He spoke to Daily Trust's Ruby Leo and Judd- Leonard Okafor.<br />
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<b>What is the difference between the National macro plans for polio eradication and the way the micro plans are implemented at the local government levels?<br />
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Microplans are developed at lower levels. By implication, what it simply means is that they are plans that are developed to enable the team cover the four-day period within available resources, which means the vaccines, target population, resources. Why we do that is to ensure every child in every ward and settlement is covered. Planning is the foundation of every programme.<br />
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What I see here is that Jigawa has been using the microplan, but just like in any other state the microplan sometimes does not take us to where we want to go, meaning that some settlements are still being missed.<br />
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And at this age, when we are pushing very hard to ensure that we get polio out of Nigeria, teams still do develop their own microplans and they are expected to work with these microplans for any visitor that comes in to know the exact location and to really understand the plans they have for that day.<br />
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Unfortunately, some of them don't go with those plans even though they have them. We have had to make some corrections today, but some wards still go along with their microplans.<br />
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<b>Does the general implementation on the ground give you hope, as someone involved in the running of the polio eradication programme? Are we getting close?<br />
</b><br />
We have strong hope that we can eradicate polio out of Nigeria. But then there are three basic problems we must overcome. One is the quality of our implementation, that is the way we deliver these vaccines. There are gaps in the human resources, there are gaps in the pluses, there are gaps in even the commitment of some health workers. And to address this, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, in collaboration with development partners, developed the Accountability Framework, where every person from the highest level to the lowest person giving the vaccines to the children is accountable for his or her own actions.<br />
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And we are now changing the training and selection process. The selection used to be between the ward focal person and just the village head. Now we have ward selection committee, comprising five distinguished members of the community that involve the traditional leader, the religious leader, any civil society organisation--to give balance and fairness--and then the ward focal person and also any partner (WHO, UNICEF) that is there in that community. This is the starting point. If we are able to get the right mix of personnel to do the house-to-house team, if we are able to acquire quality practical knowledge of how to do it, and if we are able to improve on our microplan, then the delivery component, which the is supply side of this programme, will improve.<br />
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The second component is the demand side. Are we really getting to the communities in the right way? Yes, but there is room for improvement. And unless we are able to do that improvement, we will not be able to reach there. This has to do with the issues on ground. Are we really using the media, especially the local radio stations, to really impact? Is our majigi system really working? Are we really expanding or we are just doing pockets of majigi film shows here and there that will only give us little impact? Are we identifying community champions? It isn't only the structural chairman, governor, commissioner. There are individuals that are highly respected and adored by the community people. They could be politicians, footballers, traders. The programme must identify them. These people must identify with the programme for the people to have confidence, because up till now noncompliance is still an issue.<br />
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The third component is underlying health system issues that are beyond the polio programme. When you visit a mother, her major reason why she is not allowing her child to be vaccinated is that if she goes to the nearby health facility for her malaria [stricken] child, she doesn't get attention...so why then would you be coming to her house to give medication? These are broader health system factors that we have to improve along the line for us to really get to the Promised Land.<br />
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<b>How would you practically deal with these issues while the round is ongoing?<br />
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</b>We need to develop a very robust health system. Government at all levels, the partners that are supporting health systems in Nigeria must come on board to improve the system. If this health system is not improved, it would create a barrier to our house to house strategy to immunising children. It is a broader context, but it is a very important factor that we have to bear in mind. But that should not stop us. If we are able to address the delivery and demand issues, which are programme oriented, I think we will able to reach the Promised Land.<br />
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<b>There are other issues, beyond immunisation, that primary health care deals with. How do all those issues come together? People you deal just identify you with polio and that's it?<br />
</b><br />
NPHCDA is a government institution constitutionally empowered to develop policies, direction and resource mobilisation for primary healthcare in Nigeria. Immunisation is one of seven key components of primary health care. We deal with maternal and child health, resource mobilisation, essential medicines, all the broader aspects of primary health care.<br />
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Why immunisation? Immunisation has been proven still to be the most cost effective intervention, and everywhere in the world it is the cornerstone of the primary health care. If every PHC facility has a functional immunisation system, I tell you all the remaining components--nutrition, food, hygiene, water--will automatically come to bear under the single platform of primary healthcare.<br />
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Secondly, Nigeria is still the only remaining African country where polio is endemic--meaning that all other countries at one point or the other have eliminated poliovirus. We have reached a very good level, and we have made progress. We should also bear in mind that for the past three years, 22 states in the southern part of this country have been polio free. We need to really put in much energy.<br />
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Fortunately for us, we have international support, and that support is gingering us. But we cannot do it unless the local government areas and states buy in as much as possible. The level of buy-in is growing.<br />
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There are a lot of fantastic components we use to support the LGAs. We have been constructing primary health care centres all over the country; it is one aspect of improving access. We have been mobilising resources to ensure that maternal health is improved. We are now doing this Midwives Service Scheme, which has even gotten an international award.<br />
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In<b>dia has been polio free for a year. Nigeria is getting close but for a handful of states. By analogy, say, nine-tenths of the work is done. Isn't there a risk of complacence with just the final one-tenth?<br />
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Complacency, yes. We recorded very huge success in 2010 and the whole world celebrated us, and in 2011 we had some challenges. We were a bit complacent and went down a bit, but now we are coming up. The good thing is that at the highest level, Mr President has made an unequivocal pronouncement to the whole world and demonstrated that with commitment and action.<br />
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He has improved resource mobilisation toward polio eradication, and has constituted a presidential task force. This is leadership by example. Mr President sleeps with polio; Mr President wants polio to be eradicated. And good enough through the structure of the Nigerian Governors Forum, headed by the governor of Rivers state, Mr President, the health ministers and the agency are really working very closely with the governors at the second layer.<br />
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http://allafrica.com/stories/201203200654.htmlADVOCACY FOR MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN NIGERIAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05475775213858450098noreply@blogger.com