Kogi moves to improve maternal, child health

The Maternal and Child Survival Program in Kogi State being implemented by Jhpeigo in partnership with Kogi State Ministry of Health and other partners with funding from USAID is strategising to improve maternal, newborn, adolescent and child health in the State.

The country deputy director of Maternal and Child Survival programme in Nigeria (MCSP) Dr. Ogu Okoli gave the indication at the official launch of Kogi Sate 2018-2021 Family Planning Costed Implantation Plan and the unveiling of Green Dot Logo at glass house in government house Lokoja. He pointed out that domesticating the Family Planning policy in Kogi State will reduce maternal and child mortality rate.

The State Team Leader of the programme, Dr. Alobo Gabriel, who is gynaecologist, said the major drawback to the improvement of maternal, newborn, adolescent and child health in the State lies in the fact that the State has a very low contraceptive usage in the middle belt.According to him, contraceptive usage is as low as 11 per cent for all methods and 8.5 per cent for modern methods compared to the national average of 15 per cent for all and 10 per cent for modern.

“So the essence of developing this Costed Implementation Plan (CIP) is to determine what it will cost the State to take its family planning usage from the current low level to 20 per cent.“To do that we felt that to do so we have to create demand through radio jingles and advertisement to ensure that people come for family planning.He said family planning activity need more facilities, commodities in the facilities.He said they have estimated all the cost of the materials to bring the contraceptive prevalence from the low level currently to about 20 per cent.

“Nigeria is targeting 27 per cent but because we are lower than the country’s average that is why we are talking of 20 per cent. The National average is 15 per cent while Kogi is 11 per cent.“The effect of the low level is that more women are dying because they are bearing more children as more women are getting pregnant.

“The death rate in the State is higher where the family planning is low. The more they use the family planning the less the maternal and child mortality.”Wife of Kogi State Governor, Mrs. Rashida Bello, urged women in the state to make maximum use of the family planning services that the government has provided across the health centers in the 21 local government areas of the state.

Mrs. Bello noted that the relevance of Family planning led the Government of Nigeria to adopt family planning as a National Policy because the implementation would not only brings positive results to the country but also decrease the pressure on our women who bear the children.Her Excellency added that just like Every child has a right to be wanted and loved, couples also have the right to decide freely on the number of children they want to have because birth should be by choice not by chance.

“Some women mostly in rural areas cannot afford family planning services and that is why Kogi State Government domesticated the family planning policy launched by the Federal Government in other to ensure that every woman in the state have access to quality and affordable family planning services.State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Saka Haruna, said the implementation will reduce the burden of unplanned pregnancies, promote smaller families and improve maternal and child survival.

Mrs. Rashida Bello also unveiled the Green Dot Logo at Kogi State Specialist Hospital and the pelvic and arm model for family planning to promote more sustainability in nursing schools so that the students can be properly trained in school.She therefore implored everyone to take a step forward and spread the awareness about family planning schemes, because increasing population will not only slow down our country’s progress, but will also retard its economic and social growth.