The Federal Government has revealed that it is working towards pooling resources both from local and foreign sources to revamp the health sector, particularly to re-equip hospitals, build more primary healthcare centres, and retrain health workers.
It stated that these moves have become critically important to address the high death rate among children under the age of five across the country.
Also, a report presented by the Head, Newborn Branch, Child Health Division, at the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Abdullahi Jatau, showed that out of an estimated 7.5 million babies born yearly in the country, 290,000 die in their first month.
He explained that the mortality figure accounted for one-third of the under-five deaths in the country.
Speaking during the commemoration of this year’s World Prematurity Day with the theme: ‘Small Actions, BIG IMPACT: Skin-to-skin Care for Every Baby Everywhere,’ the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, stated that despite successes recorded in reducing neonatal deaths, Nigeria is still far from the target of reducing neonatal deaths to 12 per 1,000 live births.
Lafiya360 reports that Pate, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Mrs. Daju Kachollom, said the ministry was rebuilding the capacity of 120,000 frontline health workers as part of efforts to reverse the ugly neonatal indices, adding that part of the training curriculum include skills on essential newborn care and other interventions.
Pate explained that the ministry has developed four policy documents geared toward reducing newborn death, particularly due to preterm births. The documents, he said, include the Nigerian Every Newborn Action Plan, the Chlorhexidine Scale up Strategy, the Facilitators Guide for Comprehensive Newborn Care Course, and the Caffeine Citrate Market Survey, which are set for dissemination.
He further stated that the ministry is working at preventing deaths and complications from pre-term birth by ensuring a healthy pregnancy.
Key interventions such as counseling on healthy diet, optimal nutrition, early ultrasound help determine gestational age and detect multiple pregnancies, according to him, are very important.
He therefore stressed that there is an urgent need to address the issue of neonatal infections, which has become the leading cause of death in Nigeria, largely arising from umbilical cord infections.
On the roles of Primary Healthcare Centres (PHC) in reducing the mortality of newborns, Pate stated that governments at the Federal and States, were working toward ensuring that primary basic healthcare is provided.
He said: “The Federal Government has recently approved the design and implementation strategy of a sector wide programme to reposition the health sector. This is to be actualized through the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund with the alignment of partners funds which will include the pooling of funds from all local sources. This initiative is to ensure that we pool funds to tackle all health challenges.
“I can assure you that with the Renewed Hope agenda, much will be achieved. We are working towards revitalizing, re-equipping, repositioning the existing primary healthcare centres (PHCs) while constructing new ones across the country. The target is to have two PHCs per ward in the 774 Local Government Areas.
“We want to ensure patient satisfaction at the hospitals with emphasis on the PHCs towards attaining universal health coverage in the country.”