Nigeria losses .5m Mothers Annually at childbirth - Anambra Commissioner

About 545,000 loss their lives annually in Nigeria as a rest of co.plications arising from child birth, Anambra State Commissioner for Health Dr. Josephat Akabuike has said.

The Commissioner who spoke while briefing newsmen on this year’s first round of Maternal Newborn and Child Health Week (MNCHW) which will be flagged off in the state in Abba, Njikoka local government on Monday, August 8, 2016 said Anambra State was working hard to ensure a drastic reduction.

Akabuike said that the state was stepping up immunization programme not just for pregnant mothers and women of child bearing age but as an integrated approach to fight diseases generally.

He said,  “Our overall goal is to reduce neonatal, maternal  and child morbidity and mortality."

He stressed that the present immunization campaign was targeted at 275,606 pregnant women, 1,212,666 women of child bearing age, 992,181 children of age six to 59 months who would be supplemented with Vitamin A and 220,485 children of age 0 to 11 months who would receive Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV),BCG, HBV, Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PVC), Pentavalent vaccine and inactivated Polio Vaccine (OPV).

Akabuike further said that while children of nine months of age  would be vaccinated against measles and yellow fever, pregnant women of child bearing age would be administered with Tetanus Toxoide (TT), among other items.

The commissioner also received on behalf of Anambra State Government thousands of doses of Vitamin supplements from Positive Thinkers Club of Nigeria (PTCN) during the press briefing said in the (MNCHW)  cost effective health preventive and curative interventions will also be delivered.

He continued that's nutrition screening and counseling for malnourished children, De-warming of children, antenatal  care, birth preparedness and complication readiness for pregnant mothers and care of the newborn will be will be carried out too.

He said, “The use of MNCHW is a periodic preventive routine services carried out in the primary care centres and outreach mechanism has been shown internationally to improve immunization coverage of routine Vitamin A, Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets and other child survival  interventions,” Akabuike said.

In his contribution a representative of one of the partners, said effective immunization is necessary as Nigeria hopes to attain free polio status by the year 2017.