KEY POINTS
- 2,300 children and 145 women die daily from preventable causes in Nigeria.
- Polio remains a serious threat due to low vaccination rates.
- Religious leaders are key to promoting healthcare and saving lives.
Every day, Nigeria faces a heartbreaking reality.
Each year 2,300 children below the age of five and 145 women die from causes that are easily preventable. These unpleasant statistics were revealed by the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Muyi Aina at a health dialogue in Abuja.
In a meeting with religious leaders in northern Nigeria, Dr. Aina said that some of these deaths are due to lack of access to proper antenatal care and facility during childbirth. Others die through preventable diseases such as polio due to lack of immunization. .
A call for change
Dr. Aina went further to say that many of these people could be alive with access to good health care. Women need access to antenatal care during pregnancy and effective help from skilled midwives during childbirth.
Similarly, children must receive their sets of routine immunizations. He said every child should receive an immunization when healthcare personnel come visiting. Otherwise, Nigeria will continue to record instances and deaths of children from diseases that should have been averted.
For this intervention to be sustainable, the NPHCDA is calling on religious and community leaders to help. These leaders have the ability to educate people and encourage them to believe in vaccines and seek medical care so that they may live longer.
Dr. Aina believes that any given community will only be optimum if mothers and their children have adequate health care.
Fighting polio and other preventable diseases
Moreover, the child and maternity mortality rate is high, and now the poliovirus type 2 is circulating in Nigeria.
Overall, 70 cases have been recorded in the 14 northern states. The virus remains rampant owing to low vaccination and refusal to be vaccinated.
According to a report by Punch, Dr. Aina noted that unless there are improvements in immunization against the disease, the country will find it hard to control the epidemic.
He encouraged all the stakeholders to join hands and make sure that there is healthcare for all. “There is a need to enhance the accessibility of vaccines, as well as antenatal care across all the communities,” he said.
Dr. Aina also appreciated the religious leaders, such as the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III for their support in advocating for health and immunization.
Partnership is key
Similar efforts were applauded by the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO Country Representative Dr. Walter Mulombo pointed out that cooperation with religious and health authorities remains the key to universal health care in Nigeria.
He mentioned that three cardinal things which include health, peace, and security are essential for Nigeria’s development.
