Sanusi harps on traditional rulers’ role in maternal, child mortality mitigation

Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has advocated the critical role of traditional leaders in checking the growing rate of maternal and newborn mortality in Northern Nigeria.

The Emir equally queried the cultural and societal attitudes that degrade women and female children in the region. Sanusi, former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, disclosed this at the opening of the 1st International Conference on Sustainable Population Health, organised by Africa Centre of Excellence for Population Health and Policy, Bayero University, Kano.

The Emir stressed that apart from putting women at the centre of health, traditional rulers have the responsibility to know the number of pregnant women and children born in their domain.

Worried over the number of children left by their parents roaming the streets uncared for, Sanusi insisted that policy and concerned authorities should rise against the attitude of husbands getting married to several wives and giving birth to children they can’t manage.

“To check the rising rate of maternal and child deaths, the government need to work with the traditional rulers to generate data on the number of pregnant women and newborn babies, the number of deaths and the level of immunisation in their domain.

“Until we can put all these indices together, we will not be able to focus on the challenges in our hands. Again, we need to check our attitudes. What is our cultural attitude towards women and female children? As a society, have we taken an important attitude toward our wives.