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Nigeria: Religious Leaders Tasked On Maternal Mortality
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Daily Champion (Lagos)
3 July 2008
Posted to the web 3 July 2008
Akor Sylvester
Abuja
Worried by the rate of deaths of women at child birth, the federal government yesterday appealed to religious leaders to assist in the dissemination of information and education on the importance of healthy reproductive practices.
Government said such healthy practices would help in preserving the lives of women, before, during and after childbirth.
Toward this end, government said it had identified with the religious institutions of Christian and Islamic faith as major partners in promoting and improving the health of the Nigerian women and children.
Speaking at the Third Religious Leaders Consultative Forum in Abuja yesterday, the Acting Minister of Health, Dr. Hassan Muhammad Lawal expressed the nation's dissatisfaction over the large number of women who lost their lives daily giving birth. The minister called on religious leaders to complement government's effort in reducing maternal mortality rate by helping to educate and pass accurate information to the people at their various worship centres on how to achieve safe delivery.
According to him, the social and economic costs due to the complications and deaths to the family and nation were enormous and should be resolved as a national priority, especially in this present administration of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, if it is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on health.
Lawal said that there was urgent need to improve the reproductive health status of women through stakeholders' knowledge on the reduction of maternal and child mortality at all levels. The minister further stated that governments had put in a lot of efforts in this direction saying "I am appealing to you as the gatekeepers of our people to identify your role saying responsibility in reducing the maternal and child mortality in Nigeria," he added.
He said that it was part of the efforts put in place by government to address the ugly situation that the National Vision is now Integrated Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and its strategy which is a tool for complementing the road map to attaining MDGs 4 and 5 was launched last year, adding that the initiative would involve the participation of all stakeholders including the religious leaders.
"As part of steps to continuously address the problem, I have invited you to this year's consultative meeting to share your experiences and deliberate further on your achievements so far on this issue and to also come up with other strategies that can improve the health of our women (wives, sisters, daughters, and nieces) and drastically reduce the high rates of infant, child and maternal deaths in the shortest time," the minister noted.
In his own presentation, the Senior Country Advisor of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Dr. Mairo Mandara said, worldwide, about 529,000 women between the ages of 15 and 49 die every year as a result of complications arising from pregnancy and childbirth, adding that the women died during the normal, life-enhancing process of procreation and not due to disease.
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Mandara whose paper was delivered at the occasion by the Director of IPAS, Dr Ejike Orji however said most of the deaths could be avoided if preventive measures were taken and adequate care available while calling on the religious leaders to play their counseling role in the reduction of the scourge in the country.
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