Ondo State Government has vowed to reduce to the barest minimum, if not eradicate, Maternal and Child Morbidity and Mortality in the State.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Wahab Adegbenro spoke at a two day Stakeholders Retreat on Saving One Million Lives for Result in Akure.
Dr Adegbenro said health, especially maternal and child health indices are commonly used indicators for assessment of the socio- economic development and classification of nations, hence the need for the stakeholders retreat meant to form a common front to improve these indices.
The Health Commissioner revealed that Nigeria is the 2nd worst nation in the world after India, in terms of the rate of mortality and disability from maternal health services as one out of every thirteen women that goes into labour dies and about one million children die annually before the age of five due to deaths that can be prevented.
He said “The Saving One Million Lives for Result, an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Health in partnership with states was put in place to reverse these unwholesome trends and improve specific maternal and child health indices in the country.
Adegbenro hailed stakeholders in the state for their contribution to the success of the programme as the State recently won an award for achievement across the Disbursement Linked Indicators which has earned the state close to two million US Dollars ($1,972, 00).
He enjoined stakeholders to brainstorm and chart a way forward to elicit better performance and money for the State.
In his goodwill message, the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Emmanuel Igbasan commended the State for receiving the award and promised that every dollar will be judiciously utilized.
The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftancy Affairs, Mrs Lola Fagbemi said Local government would do everything to make health at the primary Healthcare level succeed and this they have done since the inception of this administration.
The Commissioner for Finance, Mr Wale Akinterinwa who said the maternal and child health indices in the country is really worrisome, promised to do all within his power to turn round the tide for Ondo State while requesting that such retreat be more frequent.
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The UNICEF Chief of field, Dr Adebola Hassan, said to put Saving One million Lives for Result in line for better performance, the state should look at changing strategy by looking at doing things differently as this will accelerate action for result.
She suggested that the State focus on areas of high burden such as Local Governments that are not performing well so that the state can achieve the desired target.
The Zonal Director National primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Funke Adesope opined that Ondo State could do better than it had done because it has what it takes while charging the state to improve the health indices of women and children so that it can get more money as reward , by the end of year.
In his keynote address, The SOML National Manager, Dr Ibrahim Kano said it was discovered that one of the reasons for the poor health indices of women and children in the country is poor motivation of health workers despite much inputs, so the Saving One Million Lives for Result decided to change the usual way of doing things by rewarding Result.
He compared Nigeria to neighboring African countries in terms of infant mortality and concluded that children in Nigeria are more at risk because they are more likely to die before the age of five as the country is lower in Health despite the fact that it is higher in Gross Domestic product (GDP).
