The Rotary International says it has provided additional grant to its ‘Together for Healthy Families in Nigeria’ initiative to help address the challenge of high maternal and infant mortality rates in the country.
The ‘Together for Healthy Families in Nigeria’ project was initiated by Nigerian and German Rotary members and the Rotary Action Group for Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health (RMCH) in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health.
The grant is an addition to the earlier $2 million awarded for the three-year project last year.
The president of Rotary International, Gordon R. McInally, who made this known yesterday in Abuja while briefing journalists at a community health engagement in Kuchingoro community, said the grant was aimed at reducing maternal and neonatal mortality in targeted local government areas by 25 per cent.
McInally, who before the community engagement in Kuchingoro, immunised some children against polio at the Primary Healthcare Clinic, Area 2, Abuja, said the project, which is operational in six of the 36 states in Nigeria, would be expanded to other states and the FCT, with appropriate funding.
“At this stage, Rotary has committed $2 million to the project and there has been another further close to a million dollars being committed within Nigeria. It is a three years pilot project that is bearing good results already. Hopefully, it will qualify for further funding from many different sources.
“I encourage everybody to look at this project, which at the moment is operating in six out of the 36 states in Nigeria. With appropriate funding, I am convinced it could be rolled out to all states and the FCT. That way, maternal and neonatal mortality rate would be reduced,” he said.
The National Coordinator, Rotary Action Group for Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health (RMCH), Professor Dolapo Lufadeju, said; “When a pregnant mother delivers at home, the chances of maternal death is very high. 70 per cent of maternal death in Nigeria happens. Mothers should always go to the hospitals for deliveries.”
