Anambra State Implements Policies To Eliminate Infant, Maternal Deaths

Wife of Anambra state governor, Mrs Nonye Soludo says the state will continue to implement strategic health policies to eliminate maternal and infant deaths.

The governor’s wife stated this in Awka, the state’s capital, during the training of health care workers on clinical procedures for ending neonatal deaths in the state.

The programme tagged “Neonatal Roundtable and Helping Babies Breathe”, is supported by UNICEF and Nonye Soludo Initiative, and covers one hundred health workers each in four clusters selected from public and private health facilities in the twenty-one local government areas of Anambra state.

Speaking during the training of participants in the Awka cluster, Mrs Soludo, represented by the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Mrs Ify Obinabo expressed worry over the slight increase in reported cases of neonatal deaths in Anambra, explaining that checking maternal and infant mortalities remain a major task for the state’s health care system.

She, however, stated that the current administration is leaving no stone unturned in implementing strategic health management policies to protect women and children, including the current programme and the ongoing free cervical cancer screening and treatment for five thousand Anambra women and girls.

Mrs Soludo while commending UNICEF for showing strong support to the programme, urged the participants to take the exercise serious and to also understand that the task before them is critical in the ongoing restructuring of the state’s health sector.

On his part, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Afam Obidike said that the training came up following maternal mortality review carried out in Anambra State, which showed that most cases of maternal and infant deaths occur as a result of human faults.

He noted that already, the state government is domesticating professionals in critical sections of the state’s health system, pointing out that the four hundred heath care workers that would have been trained at the end of the exercise, would serve as foot soldiers in the campaign to eliminate neonatal mortality from Anambra state.

In her remarks, the Reproductive Health Coordinator in Anambra State Ministry of Health, Dr Uju Okoye praised the governor’s wife for showing deep interest in the programme, a proof of her passion and commitment to the well being of women and children in Anambra state. Also a similar training had been concluded for Nnewi and Onitsha clusters, with Ekwuluobia cluster next in line.