FG Rolls Out New Measures to Tackle High Infant Mortality Rate

* 290,000 month-old babies died in 2021, says report  

*As Kano records 46,732 HIV cases, spends over N100m on treatment

Onyebuchi Ezigbo, in Abuja and Ahmad Sorondinki, in Kano

The federal government has said that it is implementing a sector-wide programme initiative aimed at addressing existing challenges in the health sector including the high mortality rate among under-five children in the country.
To this end, the Federal Ministry Health and Social Welfare said the government is targeting pooling resources both from local and foreign sources to re-equip the hospitals, retrain health personnel and possibly build more primary healthcare centres across the country.

Meanwhile, the Kano State government has released the sum of N117,461,600 from the 2023 budget for the treatment of 46,732 HIV patients in the state.
The state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr. Abubakar Labaran, who spoke during the commemoration of this year’s World AIDS Day, explained that the step was part of an effort designed to control and eradicate the spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus HIV/AIDS.

The move by the federal government came just as the report presented by the Head, Newborn Branch, Child Health Division, at the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Abdulahi Jatau, showed that out of the estimated 7.5 million babies born yearly in Nigeria, 290,000 die in their first month.
He said the figure accounted for one-third of the under-five deaths in the country.

Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, in his speech at an event to commemorate the 2023 World Prematurity Day last Friday, said 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.
Pate whose speech on the theme: “Small Actions, BIG IMPACT: Skin-to-skin Care for Every Baby Everywhere” was read by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Mrs. Daju Kachollom, said that 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.”

He said the ministry had also articulated various interventions necessary for the reduction of neonatal mortality rate in the country.
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.

Pate also said that the ministry is working at  preventing deaths and complications from pre-term birth by ensuring a healthy pregnancy.
He explained that key interventions such as counselling on healthy diet, optimal nutrition, early ultrasound  help determine gestational age and detect multiple pregnancies are very important.
The minister also said that there is the need to address the issue of neonatal infections, shown to be the leading cause of death in Nigeria, largely arising from umbilical cord infections.

The Minister said the event presented an opportunity to critically assess ways of upgrading the health status of premature babies and to revisit the implementation strategies as it concerns the health of the newborn.
According to him, preterm is the leading cause of death among children under five years of age and that available data on neonatal mortality is not encouraging.
On the roles of Primary Healthcare Centres (PHC) in reducing the mortality of newborns, Pate said that governments at all levels were working toward ensuring that primary basic healthcare is provided.

While responding to questions on measures being taken by the government to address the high rate of child mortality in the country, the Permanent Secretary said there is an ongoing initiative to transform the health sector which will positively impact on all aspects of healthcare.

She said: “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’ ‘.
With regards to the issue of new-born babies, the Permanent Secretary said that the government has done quite a lot over the years to revamp and revitalize the various Primary Healthcare Centres in collaboration with states.

“I can assure you that with the Renewed Hope agenda much will be achieved. We are working towards revitalizing, re-equipping, repositioning the existing PHCs while constructing new ones across the country.
“The target is to have two PHCs per ward in the 774 Local Government Areas. Daju said that the government realizes how important primary healthcare is, especially in providing care for the mother and their newborn babies,” she said.

Daju said that the government  is also seeking to reduce stunting and wasting affecting under-five children.
“We want to ensure patient satisfaction at the hospitals with emphasis on the PHCs towards attaining universal health coverage in the country.
The Director, Family Health Department, Dr. Stella Nwosu, who spoke about the theme of this year’s World Prematurity Day commemoration, said the nation must identify and tackle the  bottlenecks that hamper the delivery of optimum care to preterm babies.

Meanwhile, according to the Kano State governor, a total of 138,430 people have been tested for HIV and found 4,728 positive that have been successfully initiated into new 4,140 HIV-infected persons on ART program from January 2023 to date.
“That out of the 138,430 tested for HIV, 4,728 have been positive from January 2023 to date. This makes a total of 46,732 persons living with the disease and receiving treatment in the state.”

Currently the state has 46,732 people living with HIV receiving treatment.
Dr. Labaran explained that the state has made significant strides by focusing on strengthening the supply system improving access to HIV testing, and treatment, and improving the capacity of its medical personnel who deal with the patients daily.

 “We have improved our strategies to halt mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS by successfully conducting HIV testing for 95 percent of all pregnant women during their first ANC visit, out of which only 0.04 percent turned HIV positive” the Commissioner stated.

 The Commissioner for Health pointed out that, for the first time, the state has achieved a state HIV budget target of 3 percent, N2 billion, of the total health budget in the proposed budget submitted to the Kano State Assembly.

 He explained further that the state has improved its strategies to halt mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS by successfully conducting tests for 95 percent of all pregnant women during their first ANC visit, out of which only 0.04 percent are found positive.

 “The Kano State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency enrolled over 600 people living with HIV/AIDS, under the basic Healthcare Provision Fund with the support of the USAID LHSS project. This initiative ensures that PLHIV has access to health care services without suffering out-of-pocket expenses,” he stated.

The event themed: “Let Communities Lead,” was in collaboration with the USAID in Kano as well as other partners.

The Commissioner appreciated the support of partners like USAID, LHSS, NEPWHAN, and KanSLAM for their advocacy engagements towards achieving the KSACA’s budget.

On his side, the Director General of the State Agency for Control of AIDS (SACA) Dr. Usman Bashir said SACA has brought on board 600 persons living with AIDS to benefit from the free healthcare service package introduced by the state government.

“Most of the beneficiaries are children of those who died of HIV, as well as those children living with the disease” he explained.