Media practitioners across four states of the Northeast geopolitical zone of the country namely Bauchi, Adamawa, Gombe and Taraba under the auspices of the Bauchi Field Office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) penultimate week rose up from a two-day dialogue with the resolve for the media in the sub-region to rise up to the challenge of improving the quality of child and maternal health in the sub-region.
The decision was taken during the intensive and brainstorming media dialogue themed, “First 1,000 Days of a Child’s Life” that attracted professionals in the health and communication sub-sectors. Discussants who presented papers at the event described as very significant the healthy future of women’s nutrition during pregnancy, breastfeeding, as well as the baby’s nurturing care in their first two years.
Dr Mu’azu Ishaq, the chief medical director of Gombe Specialist Hospital, one of the health facilities the UNICEF intervened to reduce child mortality, noted that there have been significant changes in enrollment of women for antenatal and postnatal services in the facility.
Dr Mu’azu Isaq told participants that the hospital has been educating and helping to modify health-seeking behaviour of mothers and caregivers to seek proper healthcare for their children instead of local vendors, stressing that they have people who have been trained to provide training for mothers.
“We showed them how important it is to pursue exclusive breastfeeding for the children.
“We also partner with development partners to provide support for caregivers and evaluate their activities from time to time to see whether they are complying with what they have learnt. To be honest, we have seen changes that have encouraged us to do more. Recently, we started by educating women to change their health-seeking behaviour because we discovered that most of them did everything at home with the help of local vendors.
“So, we told them of the implications and encouraged them to seek proper healthcare for their children, not only when the situation is out of hand, but to ensure that they regularly visit the hospital for proper treatment of their children to ensure a healthy future for them, and honestly, the response has been massive,” he stated.
A pregnant woman who was at the specialist hospital for antenatal care, Hafiniki Hussaina said that she has “experienced peace” since she began her antenatal at the facility and has been tutored on a range of subjects about childcare that she previously had no knowledge about.
A health specialist with UNICEF, Dr Emmanuel Emedo said the idea of engaging the media on the ‘first 1,000 days of a child’s life’ was to enlighten the public on the need to reduce infant deaths by adhering to guidelines that help children achieve better health and developmental outcomes.
“The whole idea is to enlighten the press on the challenges we are having in this zone (Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba and Adamawa states). These states are chosen because of the burden of infant deaths across the states. As we move towards the SDG goal of less than 12 deaths per 1,000 births and less than 25 deaths of under 5 children per 1,000 births, we try to look at where we are. Although we have made some progress, there is still more work to be done.
“The challenges are broad; unemployment and poverty. Poverty is a major factor because there are people who are living in multidimensional poverty. There are still many households to be reached and we still don’t have adequate coverage across our facilities. So, to leave no child behind, we will need every stakeholder on board to achieve it,” he said
The Bauchi chief of field office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Dr Tushar Rane, organisers of the media dialogue, stressed the importance of antenatal and postnatal care for children in their first 1,000 days of life, which he said, intersects with their survival, development, protection and participation.
Delivering his speech tagged “What is First 1,000 Days?” Dr Rane said that the physical development of the child is largely impacted in the first 1,000 days.
The UNICEF chief stressed that a woman’s nutrition during pregnancy, breastfeeding as well as baby’s nurturing care in the first two years is extremely important for a healthy future, adding that “The first 1,000 days of life is the time spanning between conception and a child’s second birthday which is an important period of opportunity when the foundations of optimum health growth, and neurodevelopment across the lifespan are established.
“Maternal and child nutrition and health can determine the child’s ability to grow. Poor nutrition in the first 1,000 days causes irreversible damages to a child’s growing brain and body.
“The period of rapid brain growth and maturation is 80 percent by two years and failure of growth during this period is associated with long-term consequences, which include schooling, productivity and income. Neuronal pathways develop most rapidly in the first 1,000 days. However, poor children are at a great risk of malnutrition in the first 1,000 days of their lives.
“Stunting is associated with increased risk of cognitive impairment while gaps between the risk and poor in reading, language and cognitive development emerge before primary school. Also, cognitive/linguistics delays accumulate early and last a lifetime, hence early life is a sensitive period for brain development,” he said.
Dr Rane emphasized that if a child is not properly breastfed or given the proper nutrition early, a case of stunting sets in which has potential consequences.
In a paper presentation, vice chancellor of the Federal University, Kashere (FUK), Gombe State, Prof Umaru Pate called on journalists to devote more time and resources on reportage of development issues which content would promote behavioural change and national development.
According to him, behavioural change is about altering habits and behaviours for long-term benefits, stressing that, “The media is a veritable tool for facilitating behavioural change using factual information and accurate data.
“The media must, therefore, invest in technology to be effective in information gathering and dissemination. Media organisations must focus on funding, technology safety, credibility and improve content to achieve any meaningful change.
“Media practitioners must be conversant with the Child Rights Act to project issues around behavioural change towards children for the well-being of future generations.”
Prof Pate disclosed that FUK in partnership with UNICEF had introduced PhD, MSc, and Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) in social, behavioural change, communication and development.
Describing Investigative Journalism as a key factor in changing the attitudes of people who are resistant to change and healthy attitude, Pate said that the world is evolving with the latest trends of technology where people’s media consumptions are changing with competitive demands, stressing that Investigative Journalism must take a centre stage to change the attitudes of people, especially those resistant to healthy change.
At the end of the two-day dialogue, the media practitioners from the four UNICEF partnering states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe and Taraba resolved to ensure children survive the most critical and challenging time of their lives by embarking on massive advocacy towards enhancing survival of children during their first 1,000 days of life.
The journalists thanked UNICEF for organising the dialogue which they said was a right step towards reducing child mortality in the first 1, 000 days, which is the most challenging period in the life cycle of mankind, especially in developing countries like Nigeria.
They noted with delight that such intervention by the UNICEF could not have come at a better time than now, considering the mortality rate of children within the age bracket, saying that the high rate of mortality of children within that age limit is unacceptable, hence it became pertinent for them to be part of the moving train to ensure reversal of the ugly trend.
The first 1,000 days of a child’s life span from conception to 24 months can have a life-long effect on their health and well-being, as it is also the period that shapes their development. During the first 1,000 days, the brain grows more quickly than any other time of their life span.
The first 24 months of a child’s life lay the foundation of their future, with the clock starting at conception and running to the child’s second birthday. Initially, when a baby is born, the physical environment, nutrition and relationship can have a life-long impact on their health.
Also very important is good nutrition in the first 1000 days as good nutrition in the womb is essential for the child’s future health. A pregnant woman’s weight and lifestyle/habits influence how the baby’s metabolism, immune system and other basic organs develop.
According to one of the papers presented at the dialogue, poor nutrition during pregnancy and early life often leads to obesity, heart diseases and subsequently stroke. The paper said it is significant too for a pregnant woman to have a healthy diet and to breastfeed the child.
“Stress by a pregnant woman often affects the baby’s nervous system and growth, leading to health problems including heart disease, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure, hence the need to avoid stress during the period,” it said.
The media practitioners promised to ensure that challenges being encountered in the first 1,000 days of life, from conception to the second birthday, such as low turnout of women to antenatal care, immunisation, incidences of malnutrition, among others, are reduced to the barest.
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