Ogun Reiterates Commitment To Stop Infant Mortality

Ogun State government on Thursday reiterated its resolve to end infant mortality in the state, saying it would not revoke efforts to sensitise residents on the proper usage of insecticide-treated Mosquito Nets (ITMNs) to enhance children’s survival.

The UNICEF Director of Programme, Ministry of Information and Strategy in Ogun State, Alhaja Kemi Ewedairo-Yusuf, stated this while addressing stakeholders at the 2024 state Social Mobilization and Technical Committee (S-SOMTEC) held on Thursday in Abeokuta, the state capital.

This is just as stakeholders at the advocacy meeting on reducing malaria prevalence in the state, particularly among pregnant women and children aged 0 to 5 years, called on the state government to ensure proper funding of aggressive education and sensitisation programmes in a manner that will engender the desired result.

The stakeholders also called on the state government to step up efforts on the continuous orientation and education on the proper usage of Insecticide Treated Mosquito Nets (ITMNs).

Speaking at the event, jointly organised by the Ogun State government and UNICEF Lagos Field Office, Ewedairo-Yusuf said the state government has realised that awareness of the proper usage of ITMNs is at a lower ebb across the state, particularly among people of the hard-to-reach-communities.

However, the UNICEF Director of Programme, Ewedairo-Yusuf, disclosed that the state government would incorporate the Community Development Associations (CDAs) through the various Community Development Councils (CDCs) in the state as of 2025, as well as the indigenous people of the hard-to-reach communities who are already in higher institutions of learning across the state, in the sensitisation and advocacy programme.