Rotary calls for increased hygiene awareness, healthcare promotion

Rotary Club of Abuja, Lugbe-FHA, has called for adequate medical facilities and increased hygiene awareness to promote and improve maternal and child healthcare while also keeping polio at 0. According to newsmen reports, Rotary made this known on Saturday during a handing over and fundraising award dinner in Abuja.

Adetundun Ayeni, the 9th President of the club said that it is very important to promote maternal and child healthcare which is one of her goals for the 2023/2024 Rotary year.

“We will be laying more emphasis on maternal and child health care because the health of a mother and child is what determines their future.

“Over time maternal and child health has been neglected and this has caused a decline in the well-being of infants.

“For instance, the aspect of weaning of infants has been a major concern, especially in rural areas where children are fed with food like garri when they are still as little as 3 months.

“This leads to deficiencies that trigger different kinds of diseases in infants; so it is very important to not just provide adequate medical facilities but to also enlighten women on how to wean infants.

“We aim at carrying out community health day and medical outreach/weaning programme classes for mothers, to achieve our goal,” she said. She also added that skill acquisition and empowerment programmes for the girl child, peacebuilding, education and tree planting would be tackled.

Adetundun also expressed enthusiasm towards President Bola Tinubu’s emergence as the Chairman of ECOWAS, stating that it was an opportunity to partner with Rotary to eradicate polio in Nigeria.

“Rotary has been a major contributor towards keeping polio at 0 and with the partnership of ECOWAS, we will be able to reach out to more communities not only in Nigeria but in West Africa generally,” she said.

Alhaji Shehu Gabam, National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, appreciated Rotary for all the humanitarian projects they had been committed to in order to for the growth of Nigeria. He also encouraged Rotary to keep up the good work while noting that he would continue to contribute and support the growth and development of the club.

NAN/S.S