MNCH Week: Mrs Buhari urges governors’ wives to lead campaign

Mrs. Buhari

Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, has tasked wives of governors across Nigeria to lead maternal and child health campaign in their states as the nation conducts another round of the exercise this month.

Mrs Buhari stated this in a release made available to this medium through her Director of Information, Suleiman Haruna on Monday.

She said that through her Future Assure programme, she had supported the exercise in some states in the country.

“Future Assured Programme of Her Excellency, wife of the President, Dr. Mrs. Aisha Muhammadu Buhari has been supporting the MNCH Week since the inception of this administration, by participating in the activities of states; so far, the Programme has participated in the north-east, north-central and south-west zones.

“Kebbi, from the North West is our fourth participation, and a formal event will be flagged-off at Birnin Kebbi on the 21st of November, 2018.

“The objective of the event is to create awareness on the need for states to imbibe timely and regular observance of the week, provide the full complement of services while taking into account state peculiarities as well as revamping primary health care centres so that these services can be routine,” part of the release said.

According to Mrs Buhari, recent statistics indicate that Nigeria ranks fourth among countries with highest rates of maternal mortality and second in neonatal deaths.

“One of the causes of these poor indices is that women and children do not have access to essential health services. This is worse in underserved and hard-to-reach communities.

“Since 2010, the National Council on Health had marked a Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) week as a strategy for achieving global health targets and to promote maternal and child health in the country.

“During the week, services such as immunization, deworming of children below the age of five years, vitamin A supplementation, micronutrient supplements for women and children as well as nutrition assessment, family planning services, HIV testing, and many other interventions are delivered to vulnerable populations and those in hard to reach areas.

“The week is marked twice a year, in May and in November. The November, 2018 round, has been scheduled to hold from the 19th to 23rd. Many states have established regularity in observing the week but those that do not, are encouraged to do so for the benefit of their citizens,” she said.