Nigerian Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire,
has urged the Delta State Government to fully implement the state 'Every
Newborn Action Plan' (DSENAP) designed to address the critical problem of
neonatal mortality, which was launched weekend in Asaba.
The neonatal action-plan was launched by the Delta
State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (DSPHDA) in collaboration with the
United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).
Ehanire, who was represented by a Director at the
Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Bose Adeniran, charged the state to mobilise
adequate resources to implement the action plan if newly born babies are to
survive and reach their full potential for the country.
While listing strategies towards the effective
implementation of the document, the minister stressed the need for adequate
capacity building especially for the critical segment of the workforce at the
primary, secondary and tertiary levels of healthcare system.
Ehanire said it was gratifying that the
save-the-newborn action plan was being launched by Delta, the second state to
so do in the country, few days after Rivers State, in a bid to domesticate the
national action plan launched on November 17, 2017, by the federal government.
Secretary to the Delta State Government (SSG), Mr.
Chiedu Ebie, while unveiling the DSENAP, decried the relatively high rate of
women and children mortality in the country, saying the launch was a testimony
to the commitment of the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa administration to addressing
the tragic and nagging health challenge.
Without copious reference to the statistical
indices from international and local authorities, Ebie said it was worrisome
that "each year, 289,000 women die while giving birth; an estimated 18,000
children die everyday from preventable diseases and similar circumstances, and
2.9 million newborns die during their first 28 days of life."
The SSG noted that ''the World Health Organisation
(WHO) and UNICEF launched the 'Every Newborn Action Plan' in 2014 to provide a
roadmap of strategic actions to end preventable newborn mortality, stillbirth and
reduce maternal mortality.”
Health Specialist in UNICEF Rivers State Field
Office, Dr. Eghe Abe, on his part, explained that the action-plan document
would state in clear terms how Delta State plans to cater for the newborns.
Abe, who also presented a goodwill message from
UNICEF Chief of Field, Rivers State, Dr. Guy M.M. Yogo, commended Delta State for
the initiative to reduce the unacceptably high levels of neonatal deaths,
saying concrete and new steps must be taken if the desired result would be
achieved in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) declared by the
United Nations.
According to him, "It would interest all of us
to note that while the under 5 mortality has continued to reduce, the rate of
decrease of newborn deaths has somewhat plateaued. Therefore, for the state and
country to achieve the SDGs, it needs to do things differently if the neonatal
mortality rate is to reduce.
"It is in the light of this that UNICEF
wholeheartedly supported the development of this plan. If the plan is fully
implemented, it is believed that every newborn would not only survive but would
thrive and develop to its full potential.
"As we are all aware, there are emerging and
strong evidence that progress towards achieving the SDGs by 2030 will only be
made if we identify the greatest health disparities and reduce them.
"UNICEF will continue to support the
government of Delta State in its effort to addressing disparities and
inequalities in health outcomes among the most marginalised people.''
Earlier in his goodwill message, the Executive
Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib,
represented by a director at the agency, Dr. Utibe Abasi Arua, while commending
the initiative of the Delta State Government, painted a gloomy picture of
neonatal deaths globally and Nigeria in particular.
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