Nigeria Lauds UNICEF’s Supports to Newborn Care

The Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital in Kaduna State University, Kaduna, has commended the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, for the support to strengthen oxygen eco-system for newborn care in the hospital.

The Head of Paediatric Department in the hospital, Dr Audu Lamidi, gave the commendation on Thursday when UNICEF officials visited the Special Care Baby Unit, SCBU, of the hospital.

“UNICEF support in human resource development on
newborn care and knowledge required to take care of babies had been significantly helpful,” Lamidi said.

He particularly commended the capacity building on oxygen concentrators’ administration, management and maintenance as critical to the survival of newborn.

He explained that the admission rate for newborn in the hospital was about 1,000 to 1,500 per annum, adding that about 70 percent of them usually require oxygen.

“It is extremely important that oxygen is available in a unit that takes care of newborn, particularly premature babies, most of whom have respiratory problems that will require the use of oxygen.”

“There is also distress syndrome which is very common in premature babies. Also, babies that have infections like pneumonia need oxygen and other problems usually associated at birth.”

Mrs Jessy Job, a mother of four while sharing her experience at the SCBU, said she would have lost her baby if not for the oxygen concentrators.

She said she spent one month and a week at the SCBU, that her baby was delivered at 28 weeks and as such, had to depend on oxygen to survive.

Supports
The Health Specialist, UNICEF Abuja,Dr Obinna Orjingene, said UNICEF had taken steps to strengthen the oxygen eco-system in the country following the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

“The support was to ensure effective interventions in pneumonia and hypoxia management and other diseases that require oxygen,” Orjingene said.

He explained that UNICEF, Clinton Health Access Initiative, CHAI, FHI 360 and other partners working in the oxygen space carried out a nationwide oxygen assessment to identify the gaps and functional oxygen systems.

Orjingene said the assessment was also expected to suggest what was needed to be done to bridge the gaps.

Also, the assessment showed a huge gap in the oxygen space and UNICEF supported the procurement of oxygen concentrators – five lpm and 10 lpm, depending on the size of the facilities.

The health specialist said that UNICEF had so far procured over 800 oxygen concentrators for different states.

He stated  that the measure would help significantly to improve child health outcomes across  Nigeria.

“We have recently procured 2,020 10 lpm concentrators to be delivered to nine states, among which are Bauchi, Adamawa, Borno, Cross River, Ebonyi, Ogun, Kaduna, and Kano.
Beyond procuring the concentrator, we are also training biomedical technicians and engineers to be able to maintain the equipment,” he added.

NAN/Oyenike Oyeniyi