Maternal, Infant Mortality: Rotary begins $2m project in Ekiti, FCT, 2 other States

By Dan-Maryam Zayamu

In order to address high maternal and infant mortality rates in Nigeria, Rotary International (RI), has concluded plans to roll out a 2 million dollar project in the four states of Ekiti, Nasarawa, Gombe and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The initiative which is christened ‘Together for Healthy Families in Nigeria’ aims to improve access to life-saving quality healthcare and tailored family planning services.

Speaking at a media briefing in Abuja, Monday, the National Coordinator, Rotary Maternal and Child Health (RMCH) Project in Nigeria, Prof Emmanuel Lufadeju, disclosed that two local governments will be selected from the four benefiting states.

He said that: “As you know, two years ago, we work nationally in the 36 states  and FCT, we have learnt some lessons, we have also learnt some challenges, we have seen gaps that need to be filled.

“So the programme which was submitted to the Rotary Foundation has been approved for our district. Out of many districts in the world that applied, we came number one. And this approval indicates that all the lessons we have learnt from the previous three years of the project has been concretised in a small location.

“The locations include Ekiti, Nasarawa, Gombe states and FCT. In all of these states, we have selected two local governments and in each local government we are working in seven facilities.

“Six primary health care centres and one secondary facility for reference, totaling 49 healthcare facilities in the country.

“The idea is to be able to deepen the knowledge that we have gained in the last three years to be able to come out with a model that is replicable.”

On when the project will be expanded to other states of the federation, the RMCH Coordinator said: “We are still going to go nationally, but before then, we want to make sure that we deepen all the knowledge that has been established and we can now improve the process in this small area so that once the processes are improved and we design methodology for expansion, then the programme will be ready for replication nationally. We have a very huge task to accomplish this between 2023 and 2025.”

Initiated by Nigerian and German Rotary members and the Rotary Action Group for Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health (RMCH) in partnership with the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health, ‘Together for Healthy Families in Nigeria’ aims to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality in targeted local government areas by 25 percent.

He disclosed that in the course implementing the project,  more than 1.5 million people will be reached through essential health services and awareness-raising campaigns to encourage families to seek clinical care.

The initiative will also increase data-tracking capabilities with regard to maternal and neonatal deaths so that interventions can be tailored to specific needs.

The RMCH Coordinator further revealed that Rotary International has concluded plans to hand-over to the Federal Ministry of Health an electronic platform created for the reporting of maternal and child health in Nigeria.

The programme, according to him, enjoyed the support of the federal ministry of health since its inception.

“The programme has been supported by the Federal Ministry of Health through the secondment of staff to Rotary International.

“Two staff of the ministry has been sent to the Rotary RMCH in the past two years and the federal government has paid through the organissation called Galaxy backbone to host the server and they have a certificate of completion which will be presented to the federal ministry of health tomorrow.

“And also we are going to present a plaque to show that we have completed the programme by handing over to the federal ministry of health,” Prof. Lufadeju said.