Enugu Targets 1 Million Children, Pregnant Women In Health Intervention Program

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Saturday, March 4th, 2017

By IGNATIUS OKPARA, Enugu

(African Examiner) – The Enugu state Ministry of Health says it is targeting about 1.1 million children and pregnant women in the ongoing maternal, new born and child health week in all the house holds in the state.

It expressed appreciation to the United Nation children Education fund, UNICEF and other partners for their support for the state government in ensuring smooth running of the programs in the state.

The interventions according to the state Director public health, Dr. Okechukwu Osah, are lifesaving interventions, adding the state governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, gave the ministry an open cheque that it should purchase all the necessary interventions for the women and children in Enugu state.

“These interventions include Vitamin A, de worming Tablets, Folic acid among others key interventions”.

Speaking with newsmen on Friday after the Flag off of 2017 maternal newborn and Child health week at ESUTH teaching Hospital Enugu, the state Director public health, Dr. Okechukwu Osah said they are targeting about 900.000 of children from zero to five years while the women would be about 200.000.

He said the present government in the state has done so well as far as maternal, new born child week was concern by granted the ministry all its request for the provision of all the interventions that will be used for the maternal newborn and child health week.

“We are also providing all the family planning and child spacing commodity in all the health facilities in Enugu state, this is the first time we are having full compliment of interventions.

“And I therefore urge the good people of Enugu state to ensure that every eligible child that is less than five years benefits from the governors magnanimity.”

“we have different targets, children 0 to 5 we are targeting about 900,000 children and for pregnant women we are targeting about 200,000, based on 2016 population census it is expected that the number of pregnancy in our environment should be 5 percent of the population so 5 percent of our current projected population will give about 200,000 women.

Osah however, called on every pregnant woman and those that are not pregnant but within the child bearing age to come out and benefit from the interventions.

“once you are less than 49 years, you are entitled to benefit, they are some that are meant for women at child bearing age and we are expecting that every woman of that age in Enugu state will benefit from this activity.

“Not only for themselves but for even the unborn child. Because by the time they will go into child bearing they will be protected and their child will be protected.

” I am urging every woman every child all the eligible persons to go out and benefit form the programme”.

The director noted that outside the media team the ministry had constituted another monitoring team.

“Ofcourse we have a lot of people sent out to go and monitor what is going on.

“We constituted a team to go to all the local governments and come back in the evening and give report of what is happening in all the LGA’s.

“Every local government has at least one monitor who goes in there every day to monitor and observe what is going, the activity would be more of supportive supervision what they do is not to find fault per say but to address any challenge in the field immediately until the end of this programme so if they is need for us to extend the programs we do it provided the target audience are captured”.

He hinted that the Enugu women in its last survey came highest in the number of antinental attendance in Nigeria recording close to 96 percent.