The Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, (NAWOJ) an advocacy partner in the #ICommit Voices for Women’s Health, has urged the Federal Government and policy makers to address the incessant challenges of women’s health.
The President of NAWOJ, Ladi Bala made the call at a Media briefing in Abuja, held in partnership with Pathfinder International (Nigeria) and She Forum Africa to amplify advocacy efforts to strengthen healthcare delivery services for Women in the country.
Ladi Bala, said that ” It is time for the media to drive the conversation and mobilize critical stakeholders to give priority to women’s health issues and begin to respond to them early enough.”
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While raising concerns about health of the children, Ladi Bala decried the deplorable state of our health facilities, lack medicine and other needed equipment, noting that women bear the brunt of the burden in the society and their health is mostly at risk.
“Let’s begin to ask and make demands on behalf of the Nigerian people that critical steps and critical policies need to be put in place and implemented,” she said.
The NAWOJ president charged journalists to consistently disseminate information based content that will evoke positive response.
“The media should begin setting an agenda for the incoming government on May 29 , 2023 to ensure they factor in these issues in their policies, plans and programmes for the next four years, particularly those that affect women’s reproductive health.” Bala added.
The Country Director of Pathfinder International and Co-convener of the #ICommit Advocacy initiative Dr. Amina Aminu Dorayi providing insight said Women’s Health is in a state of emergency as every 10 minutes, many women die in our health facilities and communities, because they either do not have access to skilled care at birth, or are not able to pay for the needed skilled care at birth.
“… In Nigeria we have over 46 million women of reproductive age, but Nigeria accounts for more than 25% of global maternal deaths. It means that one in four, that is a quarter of all maternal deaths in the whole world comes from Nigeria…” she added.
Dr. Dorayi further said that the challenges of maternal health are strongly compounded by the patriarchal nature of our society, early marriages, teenage pregnancies, low level of education, poor health and nutritional status, inadequate access to sexual and reproductive health and skilled birth attendants.
The Founder of International Society of Media and Public Health, Mrs. Moji Makanjuola however pointed out that with the failure of women to secure elective positions at the just concluded elections, more women should be considered for appointive positions.
“…our needs cannot be attended to healthwise because we do not have a lot of women on the governance table… If we look back at the statistics of women that have been affected, our young girls that have been affected by insurgency in the North East and anywhere else; then woman wears the face of the war, the woman wears the face of insurgency… There need to be security in health.” she added.
According to Makanjuola, if women are aware that with the payment of a one off fee as as low as Fifteen Thousand Naira a year, they could access quality healthcare; more women could come together and form small clusters to make demands, because if demands are not made, women will not be taken care of.
The #ICommit campaign seeks to amplify advocacy efforts on the critical state of women’s rights and health in Nigeria while sustaining the momentum on the need to achieve gender mainstreaming across sectors as a priority , especially as Nigeria sets the Agenda for a new government come May 29, 2023
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