The Federal government has solicited for collaboration with State governments and other stakeholders to fight the menace of child-maternal mortality in the country.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr Ali Pate, made the call on Monday at the flag off of the Co-Creation Workshop on the Ogun State Maternal and Newborn Mortality Reduction Innovation and Initiative in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, said the federal government recently approved a $1bn facility to support the 36 states of the federation to tackle the challenge of child-maternal mortality in the country
Pate said, the $1 billion facility recently approved for all the 36 states was to incentivize all the State to achieve results in scaling down child-maternal mortality in the country.
He added that the federal government is also upgrading 774 healthcare facilities across the country to make them referral points that can provide free treatment of emergency obstetric complications.
The Minister said, “as further commitment to boost child-maternal health, the coordination office also brings some resources from Hope, which is the $1 billion facility that was recently approved for all the 36 states to incentivize them to achieve results”.
“Whether it’s on the governance side in terms of human resources at the primary health care, if you recruit, there are incentive payments, which will come to the state at the same time if you achieve better ANC coverage outcomes. There are also incentive payments. That is the incentive scheme”.
Pate said, the initiative called MAMII launched last week by President Bola Tinubu is very important for the present as well as the future of the country, because it concerns taking care of the mothers and the newborn children, who ultimately will grow to be responsible adults and contribute to country’s development.
Pate also said that given the country’s diversity, the solutions as created by Abuja may not solve the problem and so each state government must take into account their peculiarities while implementing various programmes targeted at reducing child-maternal mortality.
He added that other multi-sectoral determinants such as education of mothers, issues of nutrition, maternal anemia, efficient transportation as regarding availability of ambulances to transport the would be mother to the hospital during emergency must also be addressed to cut down on child-maternal mortality rate.
Speaking at the programme, Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, said leveraging innovation, collaboration, and data-driven strategies will drastically reduce and crash maternal and child mortality in the state.
The governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Engr. Noimot Salako-Oyedele, stated that his administration has made significant investments to strengthen the healthcare system, with a budgetary allocation of 13% to the sector in 2025, adding that Ogun currently has an overall maternal mortality rate of 194 per 100,000, compared to over 500 per 100,000 nationally.
He added that the deployment of electronic medical records across the primary, secondary, and tertiary facilities in the state has helped ensure better coordination of care, improved patient outcomes, and enhanced data-driven decision-making.
He stated that his administration has made maternal and child health a top priority under its social welfare and well-being pillar (ISEYA).
“We have strengthened our health financing mechanisms through the Ogun State Health Insurance Agency, including the formal and informal sector schemes, especially the Ibi-Dero conditional cash transfer program, which provides financial support to vulnerable pregnant women to access quality maternal care.
“This strategic intervention is geared towards strengthening our healthcare system, improving infrastructure, expanding human resources, enhancing service delivery, and ensuring sustainable health financing.
“A 13% budget allocation to the health sector in 2025, which is embedded in the annual operational plan, underscores our commitment to improving healthcare infrastructure, human resources, and service delivery,” he said.
The governor said that his administration has revitalized primary healthcare centers to ensure quality healthcare services are available at the grassroots where they are needed most, adding that 472 community health extension workers have been employed and an additional 400 allied health staff have been confirmed to boost healthcare delivery in the state.
He noted that his administration, in December last year, launched the Ogun State Drug and Health Commodities Management Agency (OGDHMA) with the task of ensuring the availability, affordability, and equitable distribution of essential medicines and health commodities in the state, in addition to the provision of about 80 tricycle ambulances across all 20 local government areas of the state. He added that a free maternal transport service is currently being piloted in a local government to ensure timely access to life-saving care.
Earlier in her welcome address, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, noted that the program was meant to ensure that no woman dies while giving birth in the state, adding that the initiative will help strengthen the health sector infrastructure and also ensure equitable access to life-saving interventions for mothers and their newborns.
While speaking on the objectives of the project, the program coordinator of the Ogun State Maternal and Newborn Mortality Reduction Innovation and Initiative (MAMII), Dr. Dayo Adeyanju, said that it is important for the health sector to be innovative in reducing the mortality rate, adding that a contract was recently signed between the federal government, state governments, and partners to ensure that maternal mortality is tackled with one voice, one plan, and one budget.
