Over 200,000 children under five years will benefit from a weeklong intensive healthcare intervention in Kwara State.
The wife of Kwara State governor, Ambassador Olufolake Abdulrazaq, disclosed this in her keynote address at the 2024 Maternal Newborn and Child Week (MNCHW) flag-off in Ilorin, the state capital.
The National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, the State Primary Healthcare Development Agency and the State Ministry of Health organised the programme.
The governor’s wife said 100, 000 pregnant women will also benefit from the health intervention on maternal and newborn care.
She said the intervention includes birth registration, immunisation, nutritional assessment, vitamin A supplementation, deworming and growth monitoring.
“The pregnant women will have access to ante-natal care services that include free hematinics tablets and doses of anti-malaria drugs,” she said.
The Kwara first lady said that protecting the lives of mothers and children is one of the core priorities of Governor Abdulrahman AbdulRazaq’s administration.
“We believe nurturing and caring for children are the cornerstones of human progress.
While it is rather sad that most of the maternal and child deaths and morbidity are avoidable if preventive measures are taken and adequate care is available.
“Interventions like this coupled with increased sensitisation about taking ownership of one’s health and utilising health care services could significantly contribute to the reduction of maternal and child mortality,” she said.
Abdulrazaq appealed to mothers, fathers, guardians, relatives, and caregivers to avail themselves and their children and wards of the health intervention.
Earlier, the executive secretary of the Kwara State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Nusirat Elelu, had explained that the health intervention focuses on maternal health care services, including ante-natal care, family planning, immunisation and nutrition-sensitive interventions.
Elelu stated that the intervention is aimed at reducing the unacceptably high morbidity and mortality among women and under-five children in Nigeria.
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