Online Newspaper launches initiative to promote maternal health

An online media group, FreshNEWS has kicked-off an initiative to raise awareness for the reduction of maternal and neonatal deaths and promote access to proper medical care for pregnant women and children in Nigeria.

Speaking at the launch of the initiative tagged: No Woman Should Die Giving Birth in Abuja at the weekend, the Managing Director of FreshNEWS, Desmond Utomwen said: “The initiative will be directed at promoting well-being for all and at all ages with the aim of improving reproductive, maternal and child health among others; and ensuring access to safe, affordable and effective medicines and vaccines for all. The target is to improve reproductive, maternal and child health.

“Today, we commit to take up campaigns that will attempt to foster awareness on issues that limit the poor and vulnerable in our midst. These range from Social, Economic and Environmental factors, which constitute the three dimensions of development.

“Our efforts will therefore attempt to increase advocacy and drive action from government and private organisations with the aim of raising the proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel, while under-five and neonatal mortality rates are also cut down.”

Utomwen, who acknowledged the laudable efforts of Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs Office in tackling this menace added, “It will amaze you to know that today, thousands of women and children still fall to this fatality due largely to ignorance. Our checks have revealed that many women for some religious, socio and cultural reasons are still victims and the time to start re-orientating them is now”.

To drive this to fruition, FreshNEWS also unveiled Noel Empraw, an Abuja based artiste and social media influencer, Queen Ugo Onyeanu who is the current Miss Heritage Nigeria Bold and Beautiful and Moses Bliss, also an artiste as Ambassadors to help drive the campaign through social and conventional media as well as physical outreach programmes.

In his remarks, Noel Empraw advised pregnant women to take ante-natal programmes seriously while officials in the healthcare system should also shun lackadaisical attitude to their patients as this has led to many avoidable deaths.
In the same vein, Queen Ugo Onyeanu stressed the need for women to shun unorthodox healthcare during pregnancy and seek proper medication to avoid complications. She also advocated that women should not be afraid of undergoing caesarean section as an alternative for natural birth, when necessary.

On his part, Moses Bliss emphasised the need to adopt the use of social media for enlightenment of Nigerians on the issues of maternal and child health.

The event, which was organized as an action plan for 2018 is part of FreshNEWS corporate support for stakeholders’ efforts to attain the SDGs and promote the rating of the country in areas of child-maternal health.