Kwara state permanent secretary pleads for support towards reduction of maternal mortality rates

Ayo Yusuf, permanent secretary, Ministry of health in Kwara State has appealed to stakeholders in health sector to support efforts towards reduction of maternal mortality rates in the state.

Yusuf, who is also the chairman consultative group of the Saving-One-Million-Lives Program for Results (SOMLP for R) made the call at the fourth technical consultative group meeting of the organization held in Ilorin.

According to him, the programme which is focused on the scaling up to access essential medicines and commodities for the benefits of the masses has positive impact in the reduction of maternal and child health in the state.

He therefore urged all and sundry working on the project to put in their best in order to achieve targeted objective of the programe.

Earlier in his presentation on implementation of performance management, the state Program Manager SOMLP for R, Omar Ibrahim said the meeting is to deliberate on how to improve on the project.

Omar explained that SOML R, aims to deliver high impact, evidence based, cost effective health interventions based on what he described as six pillars.

He explained the six pillars to include maternal, newborn and child health; childhood essential medicines and increasing treatment of important diseases

Others, he listed were improving child nutrition; immunization; malaria control; and the elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV.

“ The vision of the programme is to reduce maternal mortality ratio to less than 100 per 100 ,000 lives births; reduce infant mortality rate to less than 10 per 1000 live births and child mortality rate to less than 25 per 1000 live births by 2020,” Omar stressed.

According to him, SOML R, was a strategy that has been employed to save lives of mothers and children and is in line with change mantra of the present administration.

The SOML P for R program manager, disclosed that they have been able to distribute second batch of delivery kits and consumables to all selected primary healthcare centre in all local government of the state.

Speaking on status of HIV counselling and testing during Antenatal Care (ANC), Salmat Lawal, former HIV unit coordinator, explained that Nigeria has a burden of mother to child transmission of HIV due to largely high rates of heterogeneous transmission.

She said efforts had been made to provide an appropriate training of healthcare providers on the caring and support of HIV – infected mothers, their infants and families.

According to her, the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV involves all reproductive age groups in the society. Just as she said it is gateway to HIV prevention, treatment and care services, saying, saving one million lives is a strategy set aside to eliminate mother to child HIV transmission in the country.

SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin