The Director General of the Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Janet Ekpenyong has described regular and high impact health interventions as the panacea to reducing maternal and infant mortality in the post COVID-19 lockdown era.
Dr. Ekpenyong made the remark at the flag-off of the 2022 Maternal, New Born and Child Healthcare week in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, south-south Nigeria.
Dr. Ekpenyong, who represented the wife of the governor, Dr. Linda Ayade, said that government was committed to ensuring that pregnant women and children from 0 to 59 months get the needed healthcare interventions required.
According to her, the Cross River State Government was collaborating with the Nigerian Government and development partners to introduce high impact health interventions such as routine immunization and vitamin supplements for pregnant women and children from time to time to breach existing gachildShe stated, “these are intentional interventions to make sure that we reduce maternal and infant mortality. Maternal and infant mortality are always centred on pregnancy and that is why we are really targeting pregnant women to ensure that they have the right education and receive all the vitamins that would help keep them healthy all through their pregnancy.
“Once a mother and her child or children are healthy, it helps us reduce maternal and infant mortality. Over the years, it has really helped us because the mortality rate was reducing. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of things were affected. But we are working towards ensuring that more women have access to healthcare, especially pregnant women.
“You will agree with me that over the years there has not been any sort of disease outbreak and that is because of the proactive measures we have always put in place to ensure that children within the ages of zero to 5 years are vaccinated against vaccines preventable diseases.
“Like I said, all the high impact intervention will help us achieve success in further reducing maternal and infant mortality in Cross River State,” the Director General stressed.
Nutrition
Speaking further with newsmen, the Cross River Primary Healthcare Agency Director General said that the Maternal, Newborn and Child Healthcare Week afforded children within the ages of 0 to 5 years the opportunity to receive vitamin A supplementation necessary for strong immunity.
She explained that besides administering vitamin A to the children, the state government was also deworming them as an essential requirement for better nutrition.
Ekpenyong explained, “if a child is not properly dewormed, the nutrition of that child would be affected. So, we use this opportunity to deworm the children, get them vitamin A supplementation and make sure those children yet to be immunized are given the necessary intervention.
“Our health workers are going from house to house, village to village and to communities with difficult terrains to reach thousands of children within this week. For the pregnant women and nursing mothers, it is also a way to ensure that they benefit from antenatal care, get folic acid supplementation and other beneficial services,” Ekpenyong stated.
Highpoint of the ceremony was the administration of vitamin A supplements and deworming tablets to the children below the ages of 5 years as well as distribution of mosquito nets, pregnancy kits and other supplements to pregnant women and nursing mothers in Diamond Hill community, Calabar Municipal council area.
Emmanuel Ukoh
