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Tag: mortality

  • Don seeks training to tackle under-five mortality

    Don seeks training to tackle under-five mortality

    A nutritionist and community paediatrician, Prof. Tamarat Runsewe-Abiodun, has sought efforts to tackle under-five mortality rate in the country, to attain child health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030.

    Runsewe-Abiodun of Faculty of Clinical Sciences, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, said besides training of more personnel in paediatrics to arrest the situation, government and policy makers should create an enabling environment to retain medical professionals in the country and discourage them from taking the ‘Japa’ option.

    She identified under-five health care services as one of the areas where ‘Japa’ syndrome was taking a huge toll, noting that ‘’Nigeria currently has the second highest under-five mortality rate globally.

    Citing the number as 107 deaths per 1,000 live births for the country, closely coming after Niger Republic, which has 117 deaths per 1,000 live births, she warned that Nigeria is among the nations where about 35 million under-five children will die before 2030.

    The Professor of Nutrition and Community Paediatrics made this known while delivering the 121st inaugural lecture of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), held at Otunba Gbenga Daniel Hall at the institution’s permanent site in Ago Iwoye.

    The lecture was titled: ‘Nurturing the African Child in the Community: The Paediatrician’s Endless Odyssey?

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    Runsewe-Abiodun said in 2022, about five million children under five years old died worldwide, with 57 per cent of the deaths occurring in Africa.

    She said: “In 2023 alone, a report from the Federal Ministry of Health revealed that 3,122 doctors left the system, with 2,134 relocating to Europe.

    “A recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report indicates that for every 10,000 Nigerians, there are only four doctors available, far below WHO recommendation of one doctor for 600 people.

    “Globally, unless urgent action is taken to end preventable newborn and child deaths, Nigeria, along with many other low-income and lower-middle-income countries, will fail to meet the SDG targets.

    “About 35 million children under the age of five are projected to die before 2030, with the majority coming from families in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia and other low-income regions.”

    She urged all levels of government to prioritise efforts to protect every newborn’s and child’s right to survival.

  • Maternal, infant mortality: FG seeks alignment of policies with stakeholders 

    Maternal, infant mortality: FG seeks alignment of policies with stakeholders 

    The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Muyi Aina, has warned against Nigeria’s slow progress in combating maternal mortality. 

    Speaking at the Nigeria Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Forum in Abuja, Aina said the call to action has become imperative considering that Nigeria still holds the highest maternal mortality rate in the world, with 1,047 deaths per 100,000 live births as of 2020. 

    The forum, organized in collaboration with Options Consultancy Services, provided a platform for discussing the priorities of Nigeria’s health sector under President Bola Tinubu and the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate. 

    Aina who called for more urgent action, while decrying the inefficiencies in Nigeria’s healthcare spending, emphasized that the problem lies not in the availability of funds but in their poor allocation and utilization. 

    While acknowledging achievements such as the revitalization of over 8,000 Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs) across the country, with plans to double the figure by 2027, the ED, nonetheless stressed that much more remains to be done.

    “We already have increases in the number of Nigerians accessing basic services from our health facilities,” he added, noting a 15% increase in immunization rates and rising antenatal care visits.

    “Despite these successes, Nigeria is still far from achieving its health goals”, he noted. 

    Given this, he opined that concerted efforts and the need for more strategic, coordinated approaches to healthcare investment have become inevitable, saying, “We are moving too slowly to where we are supposed to be. 

    “We don’t spend right. If we spend what we have on the ground right, we will cover a lot of gaps.

    “The money is no longer enough; we need your ideas and experiences. We are not in the business of wasting money anymore.”

    Read Also: NIMR partners to curb infant mortality

    Underscoring the importance of partnerships, particularly with civil society organizations (CSOs), in driving health sector renewal, Aina reiterated government’s commitment to transparency, community engagement, and collaboration with the stakeholders to share progress and challenges.

    “Sometimes we are too busy just getting the work done because we are in a hurry for Nigerians to start to feel the impact of President Tinubu’s initiatives.

    “The path ahead is fraught with challenges, but coordinated action and smart spending could accelerate progress in reducing maternal mortality and improving overall healthcare outcomes,” he said.

    Ufuoma Festus, Regional Director at Options Consultancy Services, stressed the need to align policy with ground-level action to achieve UHC in Nigeria. 

    According to him, Federal policies must be effectively implemented at the sub-national level to benefit individuals, particularly the vulnerable.

    While urging stakeholders to move from policy to action, Festus noted that everyone’s contributions to achieving UHC in the nation’s health ecosystem are immeasurable.

    Highlighting the importance of direct government interventions reaching marginalized communities and the role of accountability mechanisms in driving real outcomes, Festus cited African countries such as Kenya and Ghana, where multi-stakeholder platforms reduced maternal and child mortality.

    Saying that collaboration is key to addressing the nation’s healthcare challenges, he urged the stakeholders to draw inspiration from Lagos where a joint effort between civil society and government addressed essential commodity stockouts.

    On his part, Gafar Alawode, Managing Partner at DCI Consult and co-convener of the UFC, said Nigeria has reached a point where it should move beyond discussions to concrete actions, adding that the urgency of implementing strategies to achieve tangible improvements in Nigeria’s healthcare system can not be overemphasized.

    Towards this end, Alawode said the conduct of a thorough policy analysis to guide informed decision-making on the newly financially independent Local Government Area (LGA) and its impact on primary healthcare should be prioritized 

    According to him, the new development at the Local Council level has made it urgently important for the NPHCDA to involve CSOs in its engagements with stakeholders like the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).

    He also called for a more aligned and efficient approach to healthcare delivery in Nigeria anchored on transparency and community involvement towards improving healthcare services.

    He noted that the introduction of a new dashboard to monitor Primary Healthcare Centers’ performance would go a long way toward achieving that goal.

    He however expressed optimism about the emerging consensus on how NPHCDA will collaborate with stakeholders to streamline efforts across the healthcare sector to avoid duplication of efforts.

    Lucia Laboso, Project Director of E4A MamaYe, in her presentation on ‘Raising the Accountability Bar for PHC Delivery: Key lessons from State Lead Accountability Mechanism (SLAMs)’ that aims to enhance the organizational capacities of SLAMs to collate, analyze, and synthesize evidence-based data that can be used to drive continuous improvements in health sector performance.

  • Thoughts on mortality

    Times happen when we are numbed and disoriented, groping to regain a handle on reality and wondering all over at the meaning of this life we live. That is the place I have been for some few days now, with the shock demise of a lifelong friend and soul mate, Oyewole Ande.

    Not that death is anything extraordinary or a scarce phenomenon. It is as commonplace as its polar end, that is birth, and it happens almost daily around us: an inevitable juncture of mortal existence that should be anticipated and, as such, readily adjusted to when it occurs – sure, with grief, but also with fatalist resignation. But death sometimes occurs by sly ambuscade to a loved one and knocks you clear of that conditioning, leaving you grappling to hold steady in your circumstance. When that happens, the momentary effect is like walking dazed in dreamy land.

    My friend’s demise penultimate Sunday was of that mould. On the day he passed on, there were no indications few hours beforehand that his departure was so imminent. He was not in ill health, and neither was he in the least cast down, say by depression, as far as casual observation goes. Now by hindsight, though, it seems there were signposts that he was a Saint Triumphant making ready for a victorious transition to immortality. Almost literally speaking, what Oyewole did was settle his outstanding earthly debts, make final peace with man and God, and then walk the high road into Heaven.

    That Sunday morning, the two of us were on our feet within the premises of the church where he worshipped whenever he came to Lagos for close to two hours – he was that healthy – catching up on each other and clearing up some past misunderstanding. He was based in Ibadan and had earlier informed me he would be in Lagos for some social commitments, and would love that we meet up if I was in town. I happened to be in town; and because he was to return to Ibadan soon after the Sunday morning worship, the best deal was for me to leave mine own church after Sunday School and catch him up at his church during the service.

    We hadn’t seen for some while, and we used the opportunity of our meeting up to refresh each other and speak frankly as lifelong friends that we were about our current circumstances and family conditions. Oyewole smiled meekly for much of the time and was concessionally disposed on all the issues discussed. When I was set to leave, he saw me off to my car and requested that we pray together, which we did holding hands. I had parked my car further down the church gate and needed to drive back towards the general exit, and so I asked my friend to join me so to drop him off at the church entrance. At that entrance, we unconsciously took some minutes more to chat in the car until the church’s security man came around to prompt me that I was blocking the pathway. It was then that Oyewole came down from the car and walked briskly into the church as I drove off.

    News got to me later that this same friend I met with earlier was about leaving church with his family after the morning worship service when he slipped into endpoint unconsciousness. He got in his car, settled at the steering wheel and himself released the car booth latch for his wife to place some items in the trunk. Eyewitness accounts were to the effect that by the time the wife came around to sit next to him so they could drive off, she found him slumped in his seat and initially thought he was taking a curious nap. It was as he failed to respond to prodding that the wife, who I know to be a faith soldier, raised an alarm. The commotion that followed among dispersing congregants as they hurriedly regrouped to intervene could well be imagined.

    Why have I taken out the space this week, you may ask, to tell this personal story? It is because Oyewole’s demise impacts me so profoundly that stitching this piece together is itself an endurance though cathartic task. But also, I owe my lifelong friend a public tribute.

    Besides the shock circumstance of his passing, I had known Oyewole from a time so early in childhood that it is difficult now to pinpoint the starting point. We began as kid playmates and transformed into alter egos, especially as we were of the same age, with only a five-week difference in our birthdays. Him growing to become a senior career banker and I a career journalist, he was so steadfast in friendship that no member of our parental and subsequently personal families could ignore the relationship even if they wanted to. I was the Best Man at his wedding, and we swopped places as he played the same role at my wedding some years later.

    When we both clocked 40 years of age, he preferred that we have a joint birthday party so that whoever cared would know we remained close friends, and he footed the bill to make it happen. We had two other friends we gravitated with from childhood, one of whom we lost in a fatal car crash many years ago. On the day of his own transition, as we prayed, Oyewole remembered to mention to God that it’s been 33 years since Segun Olayemi died (it was his mention that reminded me of the exact number of years), and that we were thankful for being alive in our own case till date.

    How does one write few lines of memorial tribute about a lifelong friend and bond brother whose presences populate the entire spectrum of your memory lane? How? And how can one help wondering what really is the point of life’s exertions, when you could be up and bristling with aspirations one moment, only to be demised and eased into history the next moment – literally?

    But here’s the deal: In Oyewole, I lost a friend but gained a spiritual mentor. In the Christian faith, we believe he has joined the celestial host who witness and urge on the earthly tribe in our faith walk through life. And so, though I lost a friend, I have gained a spiritual encourager.

     

    Re: ‘Obasanjo’s makeover’

    Kayode, please don’t quote OBJ out of context. What he said on ‘do-or-die’ was that fielding credible candidates for PDP in the 2007 general election was do-or-die. This can be restated as: fielding credible candidates in PDP is a task that must be done.

    And for your information, the only medium that carried the story was Saturday PUNCH sometime in April 2017 (sic). Many commentators did not even get to read the original text, but just lapped onto the interpretation of OBJ’s critics without checking out what was actually said and in what context.

    In spite of my observation, I want to commend your insightfulness.

    – Lanre Tunwon, Ilorin.

    Kayode, well said on Obasanjo. Formerly an apostle of politics with bitterness, Baba is now born again. His target is probably (former Vice President) Atiku (Abubakar).

    –      Known respondent, but identity withheld.

  • Reducing maternal and child mortality rate

    SIR: At a recent gathering of health-oriented Non-Governmental Organisations, under the aegis of Mothers and Beyond International with the support of the UK Department for International Development (DFID), fearful details about the status of the health care delivery system of Nigeria were revealed.

    Between 80 and 85 percent of health related issues in Nigeria affect women and children. Nigeria was declared 189th worst nation on some basic health indices. About 200 of every 1,000 Nigerian children die from malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhoea before their fifth birthday. Only five die in America.

    Maternal mortality is higher in women living in rural areas and among poorer communities; the maternal mortality ratio in developing countries in 2015 is 239 per 100,000 live births versus 12 per 100,000 live births in developed countries. Young adolescents face a higher risk of complications and death as a result of pregnancy than other women.

    A woman’s lifetime risk of maternal death- the probability that a 15 year old woman will eventually die from a maternal cause- is 1 in 4900 in developed countries and 1 in 180 in developing countries, but in countries designated as fragile states, the risk is 1 in 54; showing the consequences from breakdowns in health systems.

    Women die as a result of complications during and following pregnancy and childbirth, the major complications that account for nearly 75 percent of all maternal deaths are; severe bleeding (mostly bleeding after childbirth), in fictions (usually after childbirth), high blood pressure during pregnancy (pre-eclampsia and eclampsia), complications from delivery and unsafe abortion.

    Five women die of childbirth every hour in both rural and poor urban centres in Nigeria. This is because most pregnant women have little access to health facilities; are too young, especially in Northern Nigeria; do not space their pregnancies; or do not feed well. With fewer children, the food goes round, and the ravage of breastfeeding on malnourished mothers is reduced.

    Family planning facilities and delivery that can reduce maternal death are inadequate. Again, the Nigerian state fails to provide counterpart funding to complement the foreign donors. And sometimes, donated family consumables are abandoned by callous state agents. Most Nigerian women now seek alternative herbal medicine, not out of choice, but because the private hospitals are far too expensive, relative to government hospitals that lack requisite drugs, and keep them all day on the Out Patient Department benches.

    Meanwhile, the federal budgetary allocation to health is tapering year after year. Most of the paltry 4.13 percent allocated to health in the 2016 budget went to recurrent expenditure. Yet, less financially endowed African countries allocate way above 15 percent of their budgets to health care; Burkina Faso, 15.8 percent; Zambia, 16.4; Malawi, 17.1; Botswana, 17.8; and Rwanda, 18.

    The provision of the Nigerian Health Act of 2014 that at least one percent of the Federal Government’s portion of the Consolidated Revenue or Federation Account Allocation be directed to health care is observed in the breach.

    Government policies must create an enabling environment for increased local production of drugs, equipment, and other medical consumables. Section 17(3) (d) of Nigeria’s constitution provides that “the state shall direct its policy towards ensuring that there are adequate medical and health facilities for all persons.” State actors, who as humans are also susceptible to illnesses, must address this provision with the passion it deserves. An appreciation of the nexus between health and economy better persuades the unwilling to make adequate budgetary allocation to the health sector.

     

    • Ademola Orunbon,

    Abeokuta, Ogun State.

  • Ogun tackles maternal mortality

    Ogun tackles maternal mortality

    A resident of Ilaro, Yewa South Local Government Area of Ogun State Mrs Blessing Andrew from Kogi State has recounted how a quick medical intervention saved her and her unborn baby.

    Mrs Andrew said about a year ago, Mrs Idowu Ajiboye, a Surveillance Supervisor with the primary health care centre took her off the street of Ilaro on a Thursday afternoon and took her to the state hospital, Ilaro.

    Upon examination, it was discovered that she had started manifesting signs of onset of Eclampsia. She was monitored, treated and had safe delivery.

    According to health experts, pre-eclampsia is pregnancy condition that presents itself during the second trimester – about 20 weeks of pregnancy, with symptoms of high blood pressure and protein in urine.

    It is one of the leading causes of maternal deaths in Nigeria and since its cause remains largely unknown, it exact its toll more on pre-eclamptic women in rural settings because of the unpredictable nature of the condition as well as ignorance and delay in seeking prompt and appropriate medical care.

    Blessing told Southwest Report that her problem began when her husband, a staff of the Dangote Cement Manufacturing Company in Ibese, Ogun State, lost his job about four months into her pregnancy.

    She said her husband, being the major source of the family’s income, the daily bout of anxiety that seized her with regard to how the family could cope without means of livelihood, brought about the high blood pressure and then the hypertension.

    According to her, she never knew she was already having a life-threatening health challenge until the community health workers discovered her and intervened by encouraging her to seek appropriate health care.

    Mrs Andrew is one of the 11 women who benefited from the one year Pilot CLIP trial in Yewa South, Imeko-Afon, Remo North and Sagamu local govetnment areas and who also praised the project as it entered the definitive CLIP trial, which is its third phase.

    CLIP is a clinical study in Ogun State that seeks to prevent neonatal and maternal deaths during pregnancy and it is being executed by the Centre for Research in Reproductive Health in collaboration with the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu and the state government support from the University of British Columbia, Canada.

    The chairman, Local Government Service Commission, Olatunde Okewole, whose office also played a collaborative role in the project, said successful implementation of CLIP would go a long way towards reducing maternal and infant mortality.

    Okewole also praised Governor Ibikunle Amosun for what he described as his “untiring efforts at uplifting the health care delivery service in the state,” saying the “enabling environment and other plausible logistics provided contributed to the progresses recorded.

    He said: “CLIP is an international intervention project for Pre Eclampsia/Eclampsia which is being undertaken to test the hypothesis of implementing a community-based package of care for reducing pregnant women with hypertensive disorder.

    “It is also targeted at reducing death of pregnant women and improving pregnancy outcome in Ogun State.

    “In this connection, successful implementation of CLIP is therefore a strategy at achieving reduction of maternal and infant mortality as it formed part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) components to improve health care delivery.”

  • UNICEF links 55 per cent of child mortality to malnutrition

    UNICEF links 55 per cent of child mortality to malnutrition

    UNICEF said on Thursday that 55 per cent of child mortality in Nigeria was associated with malnutrition.

    Mr. Arjan de WAGT, UNICEF Chief Nutritionist, said this at the opening of a two-day media dialogue on Nutrition and Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) in Kano.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the objective of workshop is to create opportunity for media advocacy on child nutrition by sensitising journalists on nutrition crisis in Nigeria.

    WAGT said that child malnutrition was a national concern that cuts across the rich, the poor, food producing communities and it goes a long way to affect the development of the child.

    “‎Children’s nutritional status is the reflection of their overall health and it determines their developmental process, survival in life and 55 per cent of child mortality is associated with malnutrition.

    “Under nourished children have lowered resistance to infection and are more likely to die of common childhood sicknesses.

    “It is very important that the nutrient of a child at the first two years of life is highly nourishing ‎to develop the child properly,” WAGT said.

    He added that the proper nutrition of a child begins from the mother, adding that it affects all stages of life‎.

    The officer said that malnutrition results in low birth weight baby, child growth failure, low weight and height in adolescents and eventually small adult woman.

    “Poor maternal nutrition can result in disability of a baby or even a miscarriage because most important organs of the body develop before a woman realises she is pregnant,” he said.

    According to him, nutrients required by the body ‎are graded as macro nutrients and micro nutrients.

    He explained that macro nutrients were ‎needed by the body in large quantity and could be sourced from carbohydrate based food.

    WAGT added that micro nutrients were needed in minute quantities but had great effect on the body.

    The facilitator also stated that lack of iodine in the nutrition of a child could lead to mental retardation‎ and engender poor cognitive performance.

    “Nutrition has its impact on the educational performance of a child because the child has poor growth and will likely make the child lose 0.7 grades in school.

    “The child will also have seven months delay in starting school, reduction in mental capacity and adverse school performance,” said the officer.

    WAGT stressed that 80 per cent of the brain size of a child was developed within the first two years and if poorly developed could not be improved on.

    He also added that malnutrition was categorised into acute and chronic, explaining that acute is characterised by rapid weight loss and inability to grow in height irrespective of the age in chronic malnutrition.

    NAN also reports that the participants are expected to use their respective medium to advocate for urgent action in child malnutrition.

    They are also expected to engage in aggressive reportage on the nutrition crisis with focus on increasing government funding to combat malnutrition crisis at the end of the dialogue.

  • ‘Maternal mortality ‘ll be curbed’

    The wife of former Oyo State Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, Mrs. Kemi Alao-Akala, has promised that maternal mortality would be reduced if her husband was re-elected.

    Mrs. Alao-Akala, whose husband is seeking re-election on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), addressed reporters in Ibadan.

    She said: “I want to do something different this time. I am interested in maternal mortality. Our women should not die when giving birth. I will also look into the mother to child transfer of HIV. I will be interested in women’s welfare more than before.”

    Mrs. Alao-Akala vowed to prioritise women empowerment.

    Her words: “We have a lot of women in politics. Many of them have Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) This means women play a vital role in the society. I will ensure women are empowered. We have a lot of goodies for them.”

  • Mortality: Pregnant and nursing mothers charged on SURE-P

    Executive Director, National Primary Health Development Agency, Dr Ado Muhamed and the Anambra state governor, Mr Peter Obi, yesterday tasked pregnant and nursing mothers in Anambra State to avail themselves of the maternal and child health programme of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) in order to reduce maternal and child mortality rate.

    Obi and Muhamed made the appeal at Primary Health Care Center, Ebenesi, Nnobi, Idemmili South Local Government Area during the launch of conditional cash transfer (CCT) pilot programme of SURE-P.

    On his part , the Executive Director, National Primary Health Development Agency, Dr Ado Muhamed, said that all it takes for a woman to be a beneficiary of the programme is to register with SURE-P maternal and child health programme as well as visit the health center during pregnancy.

    Muhamed represented by Dr Dorathy Nwodo described it as a wonderful initiative which has scaled up health indexes in the state.

    In his remarks, the state commissioner for Health, Dr Lawrence Ikeakor represented by Dr Emmanuel Okafor said the programmed geared towards ensuring that women do not die during child birth and children are given the best health care.

    Head, Planning and Strategy Unit SURE-P , Mrs Ann Okigbo informned that the conditional cash transfer is part of the SURE-P maternal and child health care initiative.

  • ‘North East ranks top in maternal mortality’

    Maternal mortality estimates in the North East zone are very high compared to those of the South West, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Millennium Development Goals (SSAP-MDGs), Dr. Precious Gbeneol, has said.

    Gbeneol stated that apart from other hiccups, campaigns against maternal death among rural dwellers have yielded less result.

    The SSAP – MDGs disclosed this at a workshop organised for the validation of reports from the MDGs Acceleration Framework (MAF) technical session at the weekend in Abuja.

    Gbeneol said: “As you well know, there is a signi?cant urban-rural divide in estimates, with rural areas doing considerably worse.

    “Again as you know, there is signi?cant regional variation: maternal mortality estimates in the North East zone are very high, compared with low estimates in the South West zone.”

    Gbeneol, represented by the Director MDGs, Mr. Babalola Lateef, noted that government is concerned about incidences of women dying during pregnancy and child delivery.

    She restated her commitment to partnership with stakeholders in the health sector to fight the problem.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • ‘High mortality rate inimical to MDGs attainment’

    With maternal mortality ratio (MMR) still at 545 per 100,000, achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 by 2015 appears a mirage.

    To reduce the indices, the Society for Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Nigeria (SOGON) is looking for ways to make primary health care (PHC), which is the smallest level of care closer to the people, function effectively.

    The body is partnering with the Federal and state governments to ensure that PHC centres across the country are functional.

    The association has begun its needs assessment visit under its national programme tagged Volunteer Obstetric Scheme (VOS) to know what each PHC centre needs to achieve the target of reducing maternal deaths by at least 75 per cent by 2015.

    Its Lagos State sector chairman, Dr Oluwarotimi Akinola, said this can be achieved but the basic things for obstetric care must be present in urban and rural PHC centres.

    He said Nigeria constituted two per cent of the world population, adding that 10 per cent of maternal deaths is from the country. “We have not synchronised our activities. So, we really have to go to the grassroots if we are to achieve the MDGs by 2015,” he said.

    He said SOGON is adopting some PHC centres, which it will mentor and give basic things needed to perform optimally.

    Akinola said Ibeju Lekki and Alimosho local government areas have the highest MMR in Lagos State in that order, stressing that this was why PHC centres in these areas were adopted.

    “We will ensure that medical and health workers are trained to have the know-how so that they can do their jobs well. We discovered that by the time most patients receiving treatment at PHC centres would have also died when they are referred to teaching hospital,” he said.

    The SOGON team in Lagos headed by Akinola, visited Akowonjo and Ayobo-Ipaja PHC centres, while other members were at Ibeju Lekki.

    At Akowonjo, they discovered that basic obstetric care drugs, such as magnesium is not available, similarly evidenced-based intervention kits such anti-shock garment, and pantograph were lacking.

    At the Ipaja Ayobo PHC centre, the team found out that it was under-staffed.

    Chairman, Lagos State Primary Health Care Board, Dr Babatunde Sagoe, said the state is having a paradign shift, stressing that at least one centre in each LGA is on 24 hours, seven days a week service.

    “This is because MMR in Lagos and indeed the country is very bad but the state government is on top of the situation,” he added.

    Vice-Chairman of the association in Lagos, Dr Joseph Akinde said the people have lost confidence in the PHC system, which is the bedrock of care.

    He said there was a need for the government to restore the confidence so that people will no longer die of preventable deaths.