In its continued drive to impact more women in Northern Nigeria, Project Uwar campaign, an initiative of Mobaby Care Nigeria, has given out 3,000 birthing kits to expectant mothers in a bid to provide hygienic solutions to their birthing needs.
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As part of its third series, the project was targeted at pregnant women in Plateau, Katsina and Jigawa communities, completing nine states in northern Nigeria. This is in its bid to ensure that maternal mortality rate in Nigeria is drastically reduced.
So far, 3,000 pregnant women reached across various Primary Healthcare centres, local council headquarters and community hubs were provided with birthing kits even as 150 traditional birth attendants were also trained.
Founder, Mobaby Care Nigeria, Maryam Adebola-Salami, said the project has liberated her as a person and as a woman.
“I am a mother of three and having even the minute access to proper healthcare wasn’t any concern for me, either paid or free of charge. However, the women here can neither differentiate between proper and healthy alternatives due to what they have become used to; as they have seen their mothers, co-wives, sisters go through similar delivery processes,” she said.
She noted that the project has exposed the opportunities available in the health sector, adding: “It has shown me the levity with which our Ministry of Health has taken a lot of these situations. I am very optimistic about the opportunities that are opening up. We are hoping that UNICEF, the World Health Organisation and NHIS can come in and see how they can support us to continually drive this cause.”
Adebola-Salami stressed that as a project of Access Bank’s Sustainability Department, a key part is training, hence they engage at least 100 traditional birth attendants on safe birthing methods.
“We provide first hand updated information on how to administer safe and healthy maternal and neonatal care. We also use technology to keep track of whatever they’re doing. We have volunteers registered and stationed at each community. At least one for every 200 kilometres, to ensure that people have direct access,” she added.
She noted that the organisation is passionate about seeing that women and children live sustainable and healthy lives and therefore focuses its projects on them. Adebola-Salami added that its similar projects include Access Pads for girls; community outreach for Sickle Cell Management; advocacy against Malaria and Female Genital Mutilation and Advocacy for Proper Education
She added that the organisation is also seeking to ensure that the girl child is given three times the chance that she used to be given, stressing that when a girl child is born, a whole community is being born.
Project Uwar campaign, which has so far reached out to women in Kano, Nasarawa, FCT, will be moving to the southern and eastern parts of the country in the subsequent phases of the project.
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