Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health (PACFaH) said Nigeria has gone off track in her efforts at meeting the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) targets for Maternal, New-born and Child
Health (MNCH) for 2015.
The non-governmental association (PACFaH) placed Nigerian’s 2015 target for MDG4 (Under-5 mortality) at 70 deaths per 1,000 live-birth; while that of Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) was put at 250 death per 100,000 live-births.
At a press conference in Abuja, the Routine Immunization Sector Lead Project Director, Dr. Aminu Magashi Garba, who read the text of the conference however, said the findings of the most recent 2013 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) showed under-five mortality was 128 per 1,000 live births, while the deaths every year, accounted for about 11 per cent of total global under-five deaths.
According to him, as much as 40 per cent of the deaths resulted from diseases that are vaccine-preventable and can be averted through routine immunisation for children and infants.
The project director said because enough funds and attention were not given to the health sector, Nigeria is already off the track in efforts to meet the health-related goals targets in 2015.
He therefore used the electioneering period to call on political parties and aspirants to political offices to ensure that priority health issues are brought to the realm of public discourse before, during and after the elections.
Garba said the political office seekers were not focusing attention on the health of the people, but are dwelling on the promises of providing infrastructure.
He said there was urgent need for a paradigm shift by politicians who focus on building hospitals and clinics without setting up or strengthening systems that are necessary for providing affordable, accessible and equitable healthcare services, which are democratic dividends to the masses of Nigerians who voted them to office.
The project director stated that if Nigeria must achieve its goal of being one of the top 20 economies by 2020, the government has to commit to improving the health and wellbeing of Nigerians, maintaining that only a healthy Nigerian population can build a wealthy nation.
Garba hinted that the gathering was to draw attention of the political parties and their candidates to the poor Reproductive Maternal, New-born and Child Health (MNCH) indices in Nigeria and to call on them to share with Nigerians what concrete and realistic plans they have made in order to improve the lives of mothers and children as well as prevent them from dying through preventable causes.
Being a non-partisan and apolitical coalition of CSOs, the project director stated that irrespective of whichever political party wins the general election, the organisation expects governments at federal, state and local government levels to fulfil their policy commitments on improving the state of health of the woman, child and family in Nigeria.
The non-governmental association (PACFaH) placed Nigerian’s 2015 target for MDG4 (Under-5 mortality) at 70 deaths per 1,000 live-birth; while that of Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) was put at 250 death per 100,000 live-births.
At a press conference in Abuja, the Routine Immunization Sector Lead Project Director, Dr. Aminu Magashi Garba, who read the text of the conference however, said the findings of the most recent 2013 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) showed under-five mortality was 128 per 1,000 live births, while the deaths every year, accounted for about 11 per cent of total global under-five deaths.
According to him, as much as 40 per cent of the deaths resulted from diseases that are vaccine-preventable and can be averted through routine immunisation for children and infants.
The project director said because enough funds and attention were not given to the health sector, Nigeria is already off the track in efforts to meet the health-related goals targets in 2015.
He therefore used the electioneering period to call on political parties and aspirants to political offices to ensure that priority health issues are brought to the realm of public discourse before, during and after the elections.
Garba said the political office seekers were not focusing attention on the health of the people, but are dwelling on the promises of providing infrastructure.
He said there was urgent need for a paradigm shift by politicians who focus on building hospitals and clinics without setting up or strengthening systems that are necessary for providing affordable, accessible and equitable healthcare services, which are democratic dividends to the masses of Nigerians who voted them to office.
The project director stated that if Nigeria must achieve its goal of being one of the top 20 economies by 2020, the government has to commit to improving the health and wellbeing of Nigerians, maintaining that only a healthy Nigerian population can build a wealthy nation.
Garba hinted that the gathering was to draw attention of the political parties and their candidates to the poor Reproductive Maternal, New-born and Child Health (MNCH) indices in Nigeria and to call on them to share with Nigerians what concrete and realistic plans they have made in order to improve the lives of mothers and children as well as prevent them from dying through preventable causes.
Being a non-partisan and apolitical coalition of CSOs, the project director stated that irrespective of whichever political party wins the general election, the organisation expects governments at federal, state and local government levels to fulfil their policy commitments on improving the state of health of the woman, child and family in Nigeria.
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