Nigeria is among countries at a slow pace to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of reducing child mortality.
A recent analyses trends show that every single day; Nigeria loses about 2,300 under-five year olds and 145 women of childbearing age. This makes the country the second largest contributor to under–five and maternal mortality rate in the world
“Universal Health Coverage targets 8 million Nigerians to access maternal and childhood care services,” said Isaac Adewole, health minister at the National Health Dialogue held in Abuja recently.
Adewole Isaac further said that everybody should be held accountable for poor service delivery both at federal, state and local level and that political will and public financing are key to attainment of Universal Health Coverage, (UHC), in Nigeria and the developed world
“There is increase in maternal mortality especially at child birth. We need to ensure that women deliver under extreme supervision to cut this down, there is need to also address poor-hood” said Adewole
Adewole added that universal health coverage is geared towards ensuring one functional primary healthcare center per ward in Nigeria
“Over 180 million people, Nigeria is a huge country with huge potentials. This has been driven by high fertility rate the country is blessed with. We need therefore to use this as a yard stick to change the phenomena and change the population pyramid of the country so as to have more workers than defenders”.
“Our major problem again is that we have more poor people, that is why we are investing in poor people so as to change this narrative, said Adewole.
According to a release by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), malnutrition is the underlying cause of morbidity and mortality of a large proportion of children under-5 in Nigeria.
“It accounts for more than 50 per cent of deaths of children in this age bracket”.
According to the release, the majority of death occurs within the first week of life, mainly due to complications during pregnancy and delivery reflecting the intimate link between newborn survival and the quality of maternal care.
Main causes of neonatal deaths are birth asphyxia, severe infection including tetanus and premature birth.
The release also states that woman’s chance of dying from pregnancy and childbirth in Nigeria is 1 in 13. Although many of these deaths are preventable, the coverage and quality of health care services in Nigeria continue to fail women and children.
“Presently, less than 20 per cent of health facilities offer emergency obstetric care and only 35 per cent of deliveries are attended by skilled birth attendants”.
This shows the close relationship between the well-being of the mother and the child, and justifies the need to integrate maternal, newborn and child health interventions, stated report by UNICEF
Anthonia Obokoh
