Oluremi Tinubu Unveils Incentives To Boost Maternal Care

First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has flagged off the distribution of fresh incentives to encourage pregnant women to utilise antenatal, skilled delivery and postnatal care services across the country.

The incentives, launched under the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII) yesterday in Abuja, include 215,000 Mama Kits and bags, 40,000 maternal food support packs and 40,000 sets of essential newborn clothing.

The Mama Kits represent the second batch under the initiative, following the distribution of 110,000 kits in 2025.

MAMII is a government programme launched in November 2024 to lower the high rates of maternal and newborn deaths

Mrs Tinubu said the intervention was another step towards ensuring that every Nigerian child had a healthy start in life and that no woman lost her life while giving birth.

She said the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare would extend the distribution of maternal food support packs and essential newborn clothing to more local government areas identified as having low uptake of MAMII incentives.

According to her, the practical support would encourage less privileged pregnant women to attend antenatal clinics, prepare adequately for delivery and continue receiving essential care after childbirth.

The First Lady said maternal nutrition was essential to a healthy pregnancy and safe delivery, while the provision of newborn clothing demonstrated the government’s commitment to welcoming every Nigerian child with dignity, warmth and care.

She noted that despite the importance of pregnancy and childbirth, social, economic, cultural and logistical barriers continued to prevent some women from accessing quality healthcare.

Mrs Tinubu urged state and local governments, traditional and religious leaders, development partners, philanthropists, and other stakeholders to support the initiative by ensuring that the incentives reach vulnerable and underserved communities.

Speaking at the event, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, said the government had recorded significant progress in maternal and newborn healthcare since the launch of MAMII.

Pate disclosed that more than 60,000 women had received free caesarean sections and other emergency obstetric services through the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) in the last two years.

He said more than 120,000 frontline health workers had been retrained through the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), while almost 4,000 health facilities were being revitalised.

According to him, more than 3,000 of the facilities had already been revitalised, while work was ongoing on about 1,000 others.

The minister further disclosed that more than 6,000 women who suffered obstetric fistula had received corrective treatment and empowerment.

Pate said MAMII was designed to address both supply and demand-side barriers to maternal healthcare, including the availability of healthcare workers, commodities and primary healthcare services, as well as the affordability of care.

“Pregnancy is not a disease, yet many mothers lose their lives in the course of delivering life,” he said.

The minister called on state governments to sustain and expand the interventions, stressing that reducing maternal mortality could not be left to the Federal Government alone.

He said states were closer to communities and should channel resources from the ongoing macro-fiscal reforms towards interventions that directly addressed the health needs of Nigerians.

Earlier, Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, said MAMII was targeting 172 local government areas across 33 states, representing about 20 per cent of Nigeria’s LGAs but accounting for 55 per cent of maternal deaths.

He said the initiative, launched in November 2024, was designed to reduce maternal mortality by 30 per cent and neonatal mortality by 20 per cent in the targeted areas by 2028, while reaching 2.9 million pregnant women with free, timely and comprehensive care.

Salako said more than 32,000 women and 1,700 newborns had benefited directly from emergency obstetric and neonatal care under the programme.

He added that nearly 79,000 beneficiaries, about 60 per cent of them pregnant women, had been transported to healthcare facilities through the National Emergency Medical Treatment and Ambulance System (NEMSAS).

The minister said fourth-visit antenatal care attendance in MAMII-implementing local government areas had also increased by 20 per cent in a single quarter.

He said the latest incentives were designed to reinforce behaviours that save lives, including early antenatal registration, facility delivery and postnatal follow-up.