REPORTED BY GORDI UDEAJAH
Nigeria is said to have accounted for 29% of global maternal deaths, a figure the Abia state Health Commissioner Professor Enoch Uche described as unacceptable.
The Commissioner who announced this during flagg off of the 2025 Round Two Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Week (MNCHW) in Umuahia, Abia state capital, said that the event reinforced the state government’s dedicated commitment to improving maternal and child health outcomes.
He commended the state government for implementing policies and programmes that demonstrate strong political will to reduce maternal and child mortality, adding that the ongoing upgrading of Primary Health Centres (PHCs) across the state is expanding access to quality healthcare.
While flagging off the exercise, the Abia state governor’s wife, Priscilla Otti, through the state deputy governor’s wife, Adaeze Emetu, said that the exercise was another significant step toward reducing preventable maternal and child deaths across the state.
Acknowledging that significant progress has been made and being made in this regard, she stressed the imperativeness to sustained efforts to safeguard the health of mothers and newborns.
She consequently charged health workers in the state to strengthen their skills, enhance communication with clients, and uphold professionalism to ensure that the health facilities are safeguarded and effectively utilized.
Mrs Otti in addition encouraged mothers, caregivers, and pregnant women to fully avail themselves of the week-long free exercise that included ‘Vitamin A’ supplementation, multiple micronutrient supplements provision to expectant mothers, who were not attended to during the June, edition.
The Executive Secretary of the State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Kalu Kalu, however reported that maternal mortality in Abia has declined to 136 per 100,000 births. but raised concerns that the under-five and perinatal mortality rates of 69 and 129 per 1,000 respectively, call for urgent action.
According to him, the MNCHW would offer free immunisation, vitamin A supplementation, deworming, antenatal care, and family planning services in all wards of the state.
A Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Izuka Michael, in her remarks pledged. WHO continued support towards reducing maternal and newborn mortality in the state.
The flagg off exercise featured the administration of ‘Vitamin A’ supplements to children aged below 5 years, and the distribution of gift items to mothers and children who participated in the exercise.
According to the state Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Maureen Aghaukwa, the flag-off was a call to action to encourage stakeholders to join hands with the government to safeguard the lives of mothers and children, with the initiative designed to extend healthcare access, especially to families in rural communities.
