MEDIA DELIVER NOW! for women + children

Four million lives lost yearly, says report

2010-03-02T18:48:00.002Z

About four million women and children can be saved every year in Nigeria if simple, cost-effective health interventions reach the remotest communities, a new report by the Nigeria Academy of Science has shown.

The report shows how deaths of mothers, newborns and children under-five can be reduced by two-thirds through simple and cost effective interventions.

The ‘Science in Action’ report, presented in collaboration with an international nongovernmental organization, Save the Children U.K, ,shows that almost 4 million African women, newborns and children need not die each year if already well known interventions reached 90 per cent of families.

“This Science in Action’, we believe, will make the government appreciate what is going on,” says the president of the Nigeria Academy of Science, Oye Ibidapo-Obe. “Nigeria accounts for the highest number of newborn deaths and you will be surprised at the number we lose due to negligence of our health system.” The report shows that 1.2 million newborns die in a year in sub-Saharan Africa, amounting to 13,000 newborns daily. Of these deaths, Nigeria accounts for 283,000, followed by Kenya (51,000), Uganda (44,000), Ghana (23,000), Cameroun (21,000), South Africa (19,000) and Senegal (16,000).

Causes of death include babies born before term (preterm babies)- which accounts for 25 per cent of all deaths; sepsis/pneumonia 28 per cent; deaths associated with care during labour, 24 per cent; congenital causes, six per cent; and tetanus, six per cent.

The report says if effective health interventions such as immunizations, use of insecticide treated bed-nets, essential equipment for obstetrics care and others are integrated into existing health services, it could reduce the deaths by two-thirds.

“That is why we are sensitizing our politicians to make the money available so that we will reduce what we are seeing in these graphs by two-thirds, with these simple interventions,” the Country Director of Save the Children, Hussein Mursal said.

More facilities needed

The Head of Child Health Division of the Federal Ministry of Health, Nkeiru Onuekwusi, says the Ministry has been able to close some gaps but most of the available interventions still do not reach the communities.

“In our visit to one of the states, we discover that one of the problems we are experiencing is that we have too many health facilities that are not functioning. And instead of making it work by providing skilled manpower, we build new ones,” she said.

By Abiose Adelaja
February 26, 2010 07:37AM

Four million lives lost yearly, says report

2010-03-02T16:02:00.003Z

A Plague of Numbers:Saving Women and Children

2010-03-01T14:05:00.003Z

The world is in the midst of an unprecedented expansion of human numbers, Nigeria ranks 8th ahead of any other African country on the top 10 list of the most populated countries of the world. With an estimated population of 149,229,090 million people (Year,2009), the evolution of growth can be uninhibited. Nigeria is projected to have about 264,262,405 million people by the year 2050 (United States Census Bureau) living within the artery of its landscape. It is a plague of numbers (overpopulation) as women within the reproductive age group encounter a conflict of fertility, giving birth to more children than they can effectively nurture for while trying to increase their chance of survival from maternal mortality.
Postulations in the 17th century by Thomas Malthus on population, predicts the possibility of significant increase in the world population in a geometric progression of 1,2,4,8 pattern while the means of subsistence (food) follows thus in an arithmetic progression of 1, 2, 3, 4 pattern, which inevitably can cause scarcity of economical resources and increased malnutrition among women and children. Population growth among the reproductive populace in Nigeria, may require complex and compelling choices, to avoid public health challenges which is an easy pry on women and children through inadequate water supply; emergence of new epidemics, deadly disease(s), starvation, malnutrition or poor diet with ill health, diet-deficiency as well as maternal and infant mortality. At the moment 6 women die every hour from complications resulting from child birth, Nigeria rank 2nd on highest maternal mortality tabulation.
Furthermore, a couple of significant factors continues to determine the state of a healthy populace such as birth rate, death rate, urbanisation and methods of population control especially through family planning and population policies. The world is aging in an unprecedented way! ''Family planning could bring more benefits to more people at less cost than any other single technology now available to the human race." (UNICEF). Existing contraceptive methods could go far toward alleviating the unmet need if they were available and used in sufficient numbers, through a variety of channels and distribution, sensitively adapted to local needs.
A mismatch between the Nigerian reproductive (women) populace and adequate health system services can increase mortality rate in the process of giving life. The timing and spacing of pregnancies are important for the health of the mother, her children, and her family. Most maternal deaths are due to unsafe practices in terminating pregnancies, a lack of readily available services for high-risk pregnancies, and women having too many children or having them too early and too late in life.
Thus all reproductive health services must be implemented as a part of a broader strategies to raise the quality of human life and sustenance. They must include the following:
• Effort to reduce and eliminate gender-based inequalities. Women and men should have equal opportunities and responsibilities in sexual, social, and economic life.
• Provision of convenient family planning and other reproductive health services with a wide variety of safe contraceptive options. Irrespective of an individual's ability to pay.
• Encouragement of voluntary approaches to family planning, elimination of unsafe and coercive practices.
• Develop policies that address basic needs such as clean water, sanitation, broad primary health care measures and education; and that foster empowerment of the poor and women.
It therefore eminent that we need to ensure adequate processes are adopted in curbing a plague of numbers in saving the lives of mother and child health care.

Femi Adeolu Amele

Nigeria Partners World Body On $4.3m Science Training Project

2010-03-01T13:54:00.007Z

The World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ) has named Nigeria as a key partner in the second phase of its ambitious Science Journalism training project for Africa and Middle East.
WFSJ announced at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) holding in San Diego, California, that it would be partnering Nigeria’s Science and Public health media training organisation, Development Communications Network (DEVCOMS) in the project tagged Science Journalism Cooperation Project (SJCoop).
Consequent upon this, DEVCOMS`Programme Director, Akin Jimoh, has been appointed coordinator for the English-speaking group for Anglophone Africa.
Executive Director of WFSJ, Jean-Marc Fleury, who spoke on the collaboration with DEVCOMS during the announcement in San Diego, said DEVCOMS ”will be a partner of the WFSJ in implementing the project. Regional and national associations of science journalists in the Arab World and in Africa will gain experience and eventually implement their own training activities from start to end``.
WFSJ`s decision to partner Nigeria in the second phase of the science journalists training project derives from its conviction that the first phase which had imparted positively on science Journalism as it is practiced in Nigeria.
Some journalists who have participated in the first phase of the project include Onche Odeh and Michael Simire, both of Daily Independent Newspapers. Other Nigerian journalists that participated in the programme included Alexander Abutu of News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) and Abiose Adelaja of 234 Next.
“It is interesting to see that the project has resulted in a remarkable growth in science journalism in countries like Nigeria, `` WFSJ`s Executive said.
President of the Federation, Ms. Nadia El-Awady, who made the official announcement said the $4.3 million (Canadian) mentoring project is aimed at raising journalists that can efficiently cover health, environment, agriculture, science and technology in Africa and the Middle East.
She said SjCOOP would train 60 journalists in the reporting of science and another 15 as trainers in science journalism. It will be implemented with the explicit goal of reinforcing regional and local structures in the delivery of training in science reporting.
WFSJ, representing 41 associations of science and technology journalists from all over the world, will implement the ambitious and challenging three-year project, which is the second phase of project SjCOOP (Science journalism COOPeration).
“The first SjCOOP had a major positive influence on science journalism in Africa and the Arab World in the past three years”, said Ms. El-Awady. “This second phase is much more ambitious. We will provide journalists an opportunity to achieve the best a science journalist can hope for: make a difference in the life of people. But to get there, we will be extremely demanding,” she added.
The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DfID) is the lead donor of the new project, building on its investment in the successful implementation of the first phase. The International Development Research Centre of Canada (IDRC) has also promised support, beginning April 2010, while several other donors and partners are in discussions with the WFSJ regarding the details of their support and collaboration.
The SjCOOP follow-up project will again be multilingual and simultaneously offer training in the Arabic, English and French languages. The training will address issues that are common to the Africa and Middle East contexts, such as a short fall of competent journalists needed to cover scientific and technology issues, lack of interest from editors for science and research, and deeply entrenched skepticism of scientists and policy-makers towards the media.
SjCOOP will also put in place and reinforce ten associations of science journalists that will provide sustainable support to these 60 journalists and 15 trainers.
Training of journalists is achieved at a distance while journalists remain active in their normal working environment. The journalists benefit from the advice and support of mentors who are experienced science journalists from within or outside their regions. These mentors provide a full range of advice and support, from help with specific reporting assignments all the way to career development and international freelancing. Mentors and mentees meet face to face at least once a year.
Science journalism basics will be addressed by tutoring in the first online course in science journalism, developed during the first phase of SjCOOP (http://www.wfsj.org/course/). More so, the thrust of the project is to increase reporting of relevant scientific knowledge and research by the African and Arab mass media and ultimately contribute to the use of evidence into policy making and decision-making.
SjCOOP’s new approach has very rapidly positioned the World Federation of Science Journalists as a leader in training journalists in the reporting of complex scientific and technological issues. This has been possible because of the Federation’s direct access to a worldwide network of the best expertise available in science journalism.
“We are hoping to continue this success with the second SjCOOP and to play a real role in supporting science journalism and improving the quality of science coverage in both regions”, concludes El-Awady.”

Nigeria Partners World Body On $4.3m Science Training Project
By Onche Odeh, Senior Correspondent (Reporting from San Diego, California)

As Stubborn VVF Scourge Stays with Us...

2009-11-18T16:01:00.003Z

It is estimated that about 800, 000 women are caught in the web of
Vesico-Vaginal Fistula (VVF) in Nigeria. The figure is reflective of the dismal
health indices of the country as experts lament that the weak healthcare
delivery system has combined with the moribund cultural practice of betrothal to
decapitate the womenfolk. Of the sundry health challenges the nation is facing,
investigations show that VVF is a scourge Nigeria can do without. GODWIN HARUNA
writes

They look pale and sickly as a result of weeks of hospitalization. The first is
25 year-old woman, Mrs. Hauwa Umar, who was cornered at the Vesico-Vagina
Fistula (VVF) centre in Zaria, Kaduna State. Hauwa got married after her primary
school education. Married for about a decade now, she has been hospitalized at
the centre for more than a month, but her VVF condition started years ago.
She told THISDAY in an interview that she has never given birth in a hospital
but had visited it sometimes for antenatal care. In her words: "Three years ago
when I was in labour, the child refused to come out. We tried everything, but my
situation was getting worse and so I was brought to a hospital in Kaduna where I
gave birth later to a child that died immediately. Later, I started noticing
urine coming out from my body, which I couldn't stop. After so many different
kinds of traditional treatments without success, I was told about the center in
Zaria and I was brought here."
She said she didn't want to come initially because was scared of the fees but
somebody who had come to the hospital, who told her it was free, encouraged her.
Hauwa was lucky in her own case because she did not suffer rejection, as her
husband has been standing by her in her worst moments. Several other women
suffering the condition are not as lucky as family and friends have abandoned
them.
THISDAY also spoke to 26 year-old Monica Garba at the Zaria centre. Married for
11 years with two children, Monica had spent about three weeks at the centre.
She said she went to a hospital when she had a difficult labour and after
delivery, she was diagnosed with VVF. She too, has the support of the husband,
who was present at the hospital, but declined interview.
Experts say there are two types of obstetric fistula, which are Vesico-Vaginal
Fistula (VVF) and Recto-Vaginal Fistula (RVF). They say VVF occurs when blood
supply to the tissues of the vagina and the bladder are restricted during
prolonged obstructed labour leading to the death of the tissues between these
organs forming holes through which urine can pass uncontrollably while
Recto-Vaginal Fistula (RVF) occurs in a similar way to VVF when the holes form
between the tissues of the vagina and the rectum and leads to uncontrollable
leakage of faeces.
Several women, who are not up to childbearing age, but forced into marriage and
others who could not access hospital care on time are tied down with this
condition in Nigeria. Dr. Clara Ladi Ojembe, a consultant community physician
with the Department of Community Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria,
and the Secretary of the National Foundation of VVF, said Nigeria has the
highest number of VVF in the world. Ojembe said it is estimated that there are
about 800,000 cases of VVF in Nigeria out of a global estimate of 2 million.
"It is a major maternal issue. The bottom line is that anywhere a woman is
allowed to labour for days at home without seeking medical attention; she may
come down with VVF. We know the health situation in Nigeria, so anywhere you
look for VVF in Nigeria, you will find it. But unfortunately, the northern part
of Nigeria has the highest burden, and I think available data tends to suggest
that; as many as between 60 – 70 of the total VVF in Nigeria is found in the
core northern part of Nigeria.
We have done some work and we have found out that the incident of VVF is about 1
per 1000 deliveries and that compares with the same study that was done by Dr.
Kees in Katsina. He covers Katsina, Sokoto and many of the northern centers of
VVF. The same study also found the rate to be 2 per 1000 deliveries. So for
every 2 out of a 1000 deliveries a woman has VVF, according to his study in
Katsina and ours," Ojembe told THISDAY in an interview.
Dr. Ado Zakari Mohammed, former Chief Medical Director of the hospital and
currently the officer-in-charge of VVF surgery at the Gambo Sawaba General
Hospital, Zaria said VVF has been a major maternal problem in the north. "You
know it is part of the morbidity that women experience in the process of birth,
so in every woman that die about 10 others have complications in the process of
birth. One of the complications is the VVF, so as much as we have high number of
women dying in Nigeria, we will continue to have a high number of women with
VVF," Mohammed said.
He said there are five major centers in the northern part of the country where
those with the condition are looked after. These include Katsina as the
headquarters, Kano, Zaria, Sokoto and Kebbi. He said the activities of the
National VVF Project are in these five centers in the north under a Dutch
surgeon known as Dr Kees, who is the head of the whole project. He added that
Krees trained all of them in these centers.
Ojembe sees VVF as more of a social problem than medical. She says even though
they look at it as a medical condition, the major determinants are social, and
also, people that have VVF are the ones that have been able to escape maternal
death. "They had the problem but luckily they did not end up dead but ended up
with VVF. If you look at the statistics of maternal mortality in Nigeria, the
rate in the north-west is 6 times the rate of the south-west, the rate in the
north-east is 9 times higher the rate of south-west. So when you look at it,
what is the problem? Why should we have higher rates in the north than in the
south? Then you need to look at what the causes of maternal mortality are
because they are the same.
"You have the immediate ones that you know cause it, but beyond that, are lot of
factors that include the environment, social condition and the state of
development of a country's health care system. And one of the determinants of
VVF is the reproductive behavior of women, and one of the reproductive behaviors
is early onset of child bearing. Once you marry early and you start bearing
children early, it is like the case of a baby getting married and attempting to
give birth to another baby.
The pelvis is not sufficiently mature and so if the pelvis is small, when you
want to give birth, the head of the baby cannot pass through the birth canal.
The head of the baby gets stuck in the birth canal and if the thing remains here
for a long time it just crushes the tissue around. The bladder is in front, the
rectum where the faeces come out at the back, nerves at the sides, and if the
head gets impacted for a long time, it just cut off the blood supply and the
tissues die, so a woman will now end up with a hole connecting her bladder or
urethra to her vagina or connecting her rectum to her vagina or destroying her
nerves. So if the thing continues and you are not able to get the woman to a
hospital on time so that they can carry out an operation to remove the baby,
then the tissues will just die because the blood supply has been cut off, and so
obstruction can happen. But if the woman is taken to a hospital on time,
something could be done. So if you are too young and your pelvis is not
sufficiently big enough and you want to give birth, then you have a very high
chance of getting VVF than somebody that is mature," the consultant physician
said.
She said early marriage was a problem in the north. According to her about 80
per cent of girls in the north begin to give birth before they are 18 years old;
adding: "Around Zaria where I work, the medium age of marriage is 13 – 14 years
and it has remained like that for more than 20 years that I have been living in
this area because I keep doing surveys with medical students. When you marry at
13 you are still a child who has gone to start servicing a man and having
children. So early marriage is a major problem which is one of the reproductive
behaviors of women."
Ojembe said the other cause of VVF has to do with health services-related
factors. She said if there are healthcare services that are fully equipped with
qualified health personnel and women attend anti-natal care and there is a
problem with birth, it could be adequately handled and the women can even go for
cesarean operation. "Even if you don't go, but you are able to be quickly rushed
to the hospital in good time, an operation can be done on you and the baby
quickly removed. But where are the hospitals in the north? They are nowhere.
You have all sorts of health clinics and all sorts of nonsense called health
facilities. You don't have the doctors, theatres or anything and you may have to
ride on an animal to get to the road before you can get a bus, and then get to
the hospital. When you get to the hospital, you are told to go and bring money.
The man has to go and sell his animal before coming back with the money. By that
time the woman would have died, if she doesn't die she will get VVF. So these
are issues relating to availability and qualities of services of obstetrics
services to deal with complications," she added.
She also located another cause in the fact that most of the deliveries are done
at home adding that 9 out of 10 are at home and it is often late before they
recognize that there is a problem. She said they must have tried Koranic
reciting, herbal treatment, which include salt cut by a local barber, before
finally deciding to come to the hospital. She stressed that the delay at home is
due to ignorance and traditional practices that are inimical to health. The high
rate of poverty, which is higher in the north is a major barrier to getting
quality health care; adding: "How many people in rural Nigeria can afford
N40,000 – N50,000 to pay for caesarian section, because that is the only way
they can bring out the child, except if the baby is dead then you crush the head
and pull it out. Poverty is a major limitation."
She stated that the issues of infrastructure, which are in deplorable condition
in a country with a huge population, also contribute to the problem. She said
attempts to make maternal health free via legislative framework have remained a
mirage as many state governments are paying lip service to the issue.
"Marginalization in decision making is also an issue. The status of women is bad
in the north. Much of them lack education, they are secluded and can't even go
out. Most don't even know what is going on in the outside world. They can't go
to the hospital without the express permission of their husbands. They can't
take decision as even when they have complications during pregnancy, they have
to wait for their husbands to come and give them direction about going to the
hospital and if he had traveled, then the woman may be sitting in front of the
hospital and die waiting for her husband to tell her what to do. Lack of
autonomy in decision making even about their health, limitation of movement,
lack of knowledge about any other happening outside their homes and all sorts of
problems which include lack of education, economic dependence on their husbands
for everything are all vices that are worst in the north, and consequently, you
tend to find out that maternal mortality and cases of VVF are much worse in the
northern part of the country," Ojembe stated.
However, Mr. Iyeme Efem, Project Manager, USAID ACQUIRE-Fistula Care Project
(Engender Health), Abuja, said the Problem of Fistula (VVF/RVF) is generalized
around the country. He noted that it is more prevalent in states where the
health indices are much poorer, adding that the failure of the health system is
reflected by the existence and indeed increase in fistula cases. He said in the
north, the condition is much more prevalent in all the geo-political zones.
"We do not have clear statistics of those with the condition. However, there is
the general belief that there are between 800,000 and 1,000,000 women with the
condition currently in Nigeria. Globally, there are 2,000,000 women with the
condition. Hopefully, with the recent DHS conducted, we are hoping that we will
have data of the prevalence rate in Nigeria," Efem said.
He said cultural practices are generally implicated as contributors to women
developing this condition. He added that female genital cutting is one of them
as it damages the environment and either makes women susceptible during
childbirth or even during the cutting itself. "Also, the practice of early
marriage which does not allow the girl child to develop fully thus creating the
opportunity for obstructed labour is another. Prevention of the discussions on
family planning which does not allow the women to obtain services that will
prolong the period before pregnancy thereby allowing their bodies heal well is
also a major culprit. Practice of insisting that women should have their first
baby at home as a sign of strength is also very bad. Refusal to have Caesarian
Section done on women because it shows sign of weakness is also another factor.
All these, including the delay in making a decision to take the woman to
hospital, delay in finding vehicle to move the pregnant woman to a suitable
facility and delay in finding a trained health care provider to take immediate
action are major culprits in the cause of obstetric fistula," Efem added.
The situation at the Kwalli VVF hostel, Kano where the people with the condition
are kept, is deplorable. When THISDAY visited the hostel recently, the place is
in dire need of government attention because of the unhygienic condition of the
hostel. The patients, numbering over 200, are living under terrible condition,
because of the inability of the government to provide basic facilities.
THISDAY observed that patients at the Kwalli VVF hostel are crying out, saying
enough medical and rehabilitative attention are not being given to them even as
the state government disclosed that it would build N1billion VVF centre in the
state.
Mr. Suleiman Ilyasu, husband of a VVF patient, Mallama Zulaihatu Suleiman, said
if government would honour its pledge and commit such a huge amount of money on
VVF, the sufferings of the patients would reduce. According to him, "my wife
spent six years receiving the treatment after she became the victim of VVF. It
took a lot of resources from me to ensure that the surgery is done for her. She
is now normal as if nothing happened to her, but the bad condition of the Kwalli
hostel is terrible."
However, medical experts in the state observe that keeping control of VVF goes
beyond the confines of the hospital. Experts spoken to in Kano think government
should adopt a robust enlightenment campaign about the side effects of early
marriage and also, empower women so as to douse the effects of excruciating
poverty in the rural areas.
Kano State Commissioner for Health, Mallama Aishatu Isyaku Kiru, said as part of
government's effort to control VVF, it provides rehabilitation centres where the
patients are kept for three months before their discharge. She added that
government also schedules the patients' spouses and gives them seminars on
reproductive health-related issues.
18 year-old Mallama Aminatu Abdussalami Kunya, a VVF patient, told THISDAY that
she encountered the condition after she became pregnant at the age of 16.
Aminatu said her husband divorced her when he saw her in that condition and
lamented that her parents are taking care of her, adding that her former husband
is nowhere to be found.
She also lamented that, even her relatives also ran away from her when the
problems manifested, but managed to say with some cheer: "As you can see now,
my condition has improved and I am expecting to be discharged anytime from now.
I have recovered from the successful surgical treatment, many thanks to the
state government because the government is providing three square meals for us."
Dr. Amiru Imam, a consultant surgeon with Kano State Ministry of Health, said
many issues compound the case of VVF. He said apart from low literacy, poverty
and poor access to medication, the dearth of medical personnel in the state is
detrimental to maternal health as it relates to VVF. Dr Imam, who performs
surgery on VVF patients said prolonged and obstructed labour is the major cause
of the ailment. Other complications associated with this obstetric fistula, he
said, are psychological and neurological conditions where the women come up
limping, adding that notwithstanding all the joint efforts, the incidence are on
the increase. Imam noted that, at least, 15 new cases are operated upon every
week and the number is still increasing. According to him, "One should question
why things are not moving. Why are we still stagnant?"
Ojembe said although VVF cases are on the increase, but the area of success is
that in the past, when a woman has VVF, she is treated like an outcaste in the
society, nobody wants to stay close to her because she is smelling and passing
out urine. "Sometimes they have both VVF and RFV. Then, the chances of treatment
were slim. Even the Dutch surgeon that is in charge of the VVF programme only
developed interest in it. He was not a gynecologist but a different surgeon,
but seeing the cases of VVF occurring in Katsina, he decided to take an interest
in it, and so he started operating on it, and later developed the skill with
which he presently operates on the women. Fortunately for Nigeria, because of
the fact that the doctor is ready to pass his skills to any doctor in Nigeria
that wants to operate on the women, he started training us. We now have a lot
of indigenous doctors that can operate VVF successfully. At least we have about
300 doctors now and all were trained by Dr. Kees," she said.
Mohammed expressed the optimism that their work is attracting help from outside
government. He said Rotary International came into it by assisting them just
like Family Care (a Japanese NGO) that has started rehabilitating the patients
after their operations. "They are the ones that bought the sewing and knitting
machines that are given to the women after their training. They also give the
soft loan of N20,000 to the women to start something which is to be repaid in
two years. They are also the ones that employ the teacher that teaches the women
adult literacy. Family Care is also the ones that built the new wards we now
have, which includes the kitchen, store, toilets and the training center,"
Mohammed said further.
On his part, Efem said: "From ACQUIRE Fistula Care Project, we work to prevent
occurrence through community education and family planning, repairs of those
that have occurred through support to the fistula centers like provision of
operating tables, theatre consumables, training of more surgeons and nurses,
refurbishing of the facilities; rehabilitating those that have been repaired and
reintegrating them into their communities of families."

THIS ARTICLE IS CULLED FROM THISDAY NEWSPAPER.

The writer is a grantee under 2009 Investigative Report for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in Nigeria, moderated by Development Communications Network under the Ford Foundation supported projects in Nigeria.

Nutrition may hold key to saving the lives of mothers and children in Nigeria

2009-11-18T15:58:00.000Z

Lagos, 30 October, 2009 -- Food insecurity and lack of access to basic health services are the major factors causing high level of malnutrition in Nigeria especially among women and children who are the most vulnerable. This was the submission of experts to the issues and nutritional challenges facing maternal, newborn and child health in Nigeria at a one day workshop organized by Alltech Nutrients Limited, World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH), United States for Agriculture and National Institute for Food Science and Technology to proffer solution to the state of nutrition in the communities of Nigeria.

The stakeholders at the event, at Protea Hotel Ikeja, Lagos, include nutritionists, bakers, media and various organisations who together examined the possibility of soy in reducing the 60% child mortality due to malnourishment and achieving the millennium development goals. Soybean and soy products contains adequate nutrients such as protein-energy, fats, vitamins and other micro-nutrients that can combat the high cases of ill-growth indicated in stunting (height for weight); wasting (weight for height) or under-weight (age for weight) constrasts.

Among the several issues raised include the availability of soybean in Nigerian markets; how to inculcate the benefits of soy into the frequently taken Nigerian meals such as loaves of bread and the various nutritional combination soy can be made available in local meals. Professor Isaac Akinyele, Head of Department - Human Nutrition University of Ibadan who served as the chairman of the workshop stated that “once a young girl is stunted at age 3, she can never give birth to a normal child, which makes this issue an inter-generational issue, a silent emergency”. In the same vein, president of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST), Professor Isaac Adebayo Adeyemi said “there is a need to incorporate alternative strategies different from conventional methods to address malnutrition. Soyabeans, as we all know, are grown in many parts of the world and are a primary source of vegetable oil and protein for use in food”. He also shed lights on the pending bill that will enable Nigerian Council of Food Science and Technology to, among others, protect and uphold professional standards and competence in the practice of food science and technology to sustain the dignity accorded to the profession worldwide.”

Dr. Akinloye Afolabi, Country Coordinator Infant and Young Child Nutrition Project, from the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta affirmed that resources must be available to effectively reduce malnutrition through innovative approaches to resource mobilization from all sectors and levels including --- government, community, development partners,private sector and civil societies, He reiterated that ownership the programme should be encouraged through community participation, efficient communication and information system as well as entrenching a sustainability plan from the onset.

He advocated for an efficient coordination mechanism encompassing the institutionalization of a national coordinating mechanism, inter agency coordination and collaboration and effective partnership building

###

Sincerely

Femi Amele
For DEVCOMS

PRESS RELEASE: Nutrition may hold key to saving the lives of mothers and children in Nigeria

2009-10-30T09:59:00.000Z

HEALTH NEWS

Nutrition may hold key to saving the lives of mothers and children in Nigeria

Lagos, 30 October, 2009 -- Food insecurity and lack of access to basic health services are the major factors causing high level of malnutrition in Nigeria especially among women and children who are the most vulnerable. This was the submission of experts to the issues and nutritional challenges facing maternal, newborn and child health in Nigeria at a one day workshop organized by Alltech Nutrients Limited, World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH), United States for Agriculture and National Institute for Food Science and Technology to proffer solution to the state of nutrition in the communities of Nigeria.

The stakeholders at the event, at Protea Hotel Ikeja, Lagos, include nutritionists, bakers, media and various organisations who together examined the possibility of soy in reducing the 60% child mortality due to malnourishment and achieving the millennium development goals. Soybean and soy products contains adequate nutrients such as protein-energy, fats, vitamins and other micro-nutrients that can combat the high cases of ill-growth indicated in stunting (height for weight); wasting (weight for height) or under-weight (age for weight) constrasts.

Among the several issues raised include the availability of soybean in Nigerian markets; how to inculcate the benefits of soy into the frequently taken Nigerian meals such as loaves of bread and the various nutritional combination soy can be made available in local meals. Professor Isaac Akinyele, Head of Department - Human Nutrition University of Ibadan who served as the chairman of the workshop stated that “once a young girl is stunted at age 3, she can never give birth to a normal child, which makes this issue an inter-generational issue, a silent emergency”. In the same vein, president of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST), Professor Isaac Adebayo Adeyemi said “there is a need to incorporate alternative strategies different from conventional methods to address malnutrition. Soyabeans, as we all know, are grown in many parts of the world and are a primary source of vegetable oil and protein for use in food”. He also shed lights on the pending bill that will enable Nigerian Council of Food Science and Technology to, among others, protect and uphold professional standards and competence in the practice of food science and technology to sustain the dignity accorded to the profession worldwide.”

Dr. Akinloye Afolabi, Country Coordinator Infant and Young Child Nutrition Project, from the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta affirmed that resources must be available to effectively reduce malnutrition through innovative approaches to resource mobilization from all sectors and levels including --- government, community, development partners,private sector and civil societies, He reiterated that ownership the programme should be encouraged through community participation, efficient communication and information system as well as entrenching a sustainability plan from the onset.

He advocated for an efficient coordination mechanism encompassing the institutionalization of a national coordinating mechanism, inter agency coordination and collaboration and effective partnership building

###

Sincerely

Femi Amele
For DEVCOMS

GRANT WINNERS FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM STORIES ON MATERNAL, NEWBORN AND CHILD HEALTH ANNOUNCED

2009-10-09T11:52:00.004Z

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Journalists receive grants to investigate needless deaths of women, newborn and children in Nigeria

Lagos-09 October, 2009 -- Grants have been awarded to five Nigerian journalists to explore issues surrounding the needless deaths of women and children in Nigeria. Winners of the 2009 grant for “Investigative Report on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health” announced today in Lagos would investigate circumstances surrounding the death of about 145 women everyday, due to complications of pregnancy and child birth, as well as the over 1.0 million under five who die in Nigeria annually.

Among several entries that cut across both print and electronic mediums, the five recipients were awarded the investigative grants based on their outstanding entries and relevance to addressing the challenges of women and children under the MDGs 1, 4, 5 and 7, Development Communications Network, organizers of the grant stated. An award, open to all other work by journalists in Nigeria, for best stories on maternal, newborn and child health issues would be given by the Well Being Foundation (WBF), at an International Forum on Child Rights coming up in November 2009 in Ilorin, Kwara State.

Founder of WBF and wife of the Executive governor of Kwara State, Mrs Toyin Saraki explains that journalists are important in the dissemination of empirical and factual information that could lead to improvement of the health of women and children in Nigeria. “Journalists need to be encouraged in this bid,” she asserted.

With institutional support and commitment from their media organizations each of the five (5) recipients are to investigate unique story angles as follows:
• Abiose Adelaja of Next Newspapers -- {To explore the state of Primary Health Centres in rural areas and their role in maternal and child health care};
• Godwin Haruna of Thisday Newpaper {Vesico Virgina Fistula as a key contributor to infirmities in maternal health};
• Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf of The Nation {Would explore communities examining how poverty remains a metaphor of existences with linkages to maternal and child health};
• Iliya Kure of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Kaduna {Would evaluate the effectiveness of the Free Maternal and child health care services being offered in Kaduna and a number of other Northern states}; and
• Vivienne Irikefe of Silverbird Television {Would explore the problem of malaria as an environmental issue and linkages to maternal, newborn & child healthcare issues in Sagbokoji and Bishop Kodji island two riverside communities across the seas in Lagos}.

The clarity of their entry, depth in discussing the issue at hand and ability to point vividly to the problem to be addressed through their intended story ideas have made it possible for them to meet with the high and in-depth criteria of the panel. More so, the innovation in the news angle of their story idea made them stand out.

Sola Ogundipe, Health Editor at the Vanguard, one of the judges, commented on the entries describing the recipients as having “an impressive understanding of the issues. It is clear they know what to do and how to go about it.” Lekan Otufodunrin, Sunday Editor of The Nation Newspapers commended the effort describing the story ideas as “well articulated.” Sele Eradiri from the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) hope the grant would further raise editorial analysis on issues concerning women and children.

The investigative report grant is a N75, 000 cash prize that will aid each journalist to investigate their story without constraint in carrying out the necessary field investigation. The grant was awarded on Friday, 9th October, 2009, at Development Communications (Devcoms) Network, Lagos, by 11:00am.

The grant is part of commitment to reducing the high rate of women and child death, and is supported by the Ford Foundation project on “Strengthening mass media advocacy on improved national response to the poor maternal health situation in Nigeria.” Everyday Nigeria loses about 145 women due to complications of pregnancy and child birth while over 1.0 million children would die before their fifth birthday annually in the country.

Devcoms received the ONE Africa Award 2008 based on this innovative work with journalists that has created national awareness and a gradual response to the needless deaths of women and children in the country.

EXPERTS SPEAKS ON FAMILY PLANNING AND BELIEFS

2009-09-03T09:52:00.006Z

“ male leadership
involvement is required in
family planning
urgently. ”

- Rev. Elijah Olu Fatile
Regional Director (South West)
Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN)

“ ...high maternal mortality rate is
still prevalent because of some
social and cultural factors such
as illiteracy, low status of women,
poverty, religion, taboos, harmful
traditional practices..

Dr.Kofoworola Odeyemi
Public Health Physician &
Consultant.
Campaign Against Unwanted Pregnancy (CAUP)

Media Forum on The role of family planning in reducing maternal and infant mortality

Femi Adeolu Amele

EXTENSION OF APPLICATION PERIOD FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORT ON MATERNAL,NEWBORN AND CHILD HEALTHCARE.

2009-08-14T09:29:00.003Z

Dear All,

We are pleased to inform you that the ‘Call for application on Investigative Journalism Stories on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) in Nigeria’ has been extended. DEVCOMS is aware of the challenges you may have faced in the bid of completing and filling the application form, it was due to some technical hitches.

To this end the competition has been extended to the 21st of August, 2009. For further details on how to complete the form, please log on to

http://fd8.formdesk.com/devcoms/devcomsapplicationformnchgrant

Note that you will have to register as a new user on the said page to access the application form.

For enquiries please call 07029232133, 07029104821

DEVCOMS

CALL FOR APPLICATION: INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING GRANTS AND AWARD ON MATERNAL, NEWBORN AND CHILD HEALTH (MNCH) IN NIGERIA

2009-08-05T11:00:00.011Z

Development Communications Network (DEVCOMS), winner of ONE Africa Award 2008, is pleased to invite APPLICATIONS from all eligible professional journalists in Nigeria, ON INVESTIGATIVE IDEAS in the area of Maternal, Newborn and Child Healthcare (MNCH). The grant is supported under the Ford Foundation funded project on "Strengthening mass media advocacy on improved national response to the poor maternal health situation in Nigeria." The grant will be followed by awards, in collaboration with the Well Being Foundation, to the best reports.

BACKGROUND
Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) is a key issue that all health stakeholders, public and governments need to be sensitized on, most especially as it concerns saving the lives of women and children in Nigeria. Hence creating awareness about the high level of maternal, newborn and infant deaths paramount to measuring the success achieved so far in reaching the MDGs 4 and 5.

This call is to bring to fore the challenges inherent in programming and implementation of projects aimed at addressing the needless deaths of Nigerian women and children. Journlists are expected to document their ideas in form of issue oriented stories in prints, electronic, news agency or online format in a manner that enable the society to monitor and evaluate measurable progress made so far in MDGs 4 & 5 in Nigeria. The stories should also educate and advocate how to harness the strategies adopted in addressing maternal, nwborn and child health for more efficient results from local communities up to state and national platform.

THE WINNING STORY IDEA
Applicants are to develop at least 2 story ideas that would feature an accurate documentation in any of the following video, audio, online or print (including news agency) format.

- Compelling feature story on MNCH linked to developmental issue(s)

- Governmental Policy on ‘Women and Children’ and its implementation at local communities and all levels of governance

- Human angle story ideas that bring to fore key challenges of women and children in accessing healthcare in Nigeria.

GRANTS
Grants for approved story idea is worth (N75, 000) which is strictly for field/investigative feature length reporting on MDGs 4 and 5 and related issues concerning women and children.

All winning entries are automatically nominated to compete for an award ceremony for ‘Best Story/Report on maternal, newborn and child health, 2009.

ENTRY DATES
Opening date: 31st July, 2009 08.00 GMT (9am local time, Nigeria)
Closing date: 14th August, 2009 15.00 GMT (4pm local time, Nigeria)
Selected stories must be aired or published on or before September 4th 2009

PLEASE FILL THE FORM BELOW TO APPLY.

COPY LINK TO BROWSER TO OPEN THE LINK BELOW
http://spreadsheets.google.com/a/devcomsnetwork.org/viewform?formkey=dDRtUU9VaTc0TkszeEJIdWQ0VlppY0E6MA..

Debilitating effects of HIV/AIDS on Nigerian Women and Children

2009-08-04T15:57:00.001Z

Debilitating effects of HIV/AIDS on Nigerian Women and Children

HIV/AIDS has emerged as one of the greatest pandemic which hunts everyone, not sparing the weakest of all, women and children. At present, the most recent HIV sero-prevalance survey shows that women aged 15 – 49 years, constitute 56 percent of the 4.74 million infected, (Adekeye, 2005) with quite a number who have given birth to babies that have become infected also. Others who had the virus after birth have had to battle with the challenge alone, due to the devastating effect it has on them. Women are more prone to contracting HIV because of certain factors. One important factor is biological, which explains the physiological characteristics of women, the general vulnerability of women partly accounts for a wide range of female reproductive health problems, and variation in socio-economic and political status by gender. These have emerged as some of the factors responsible for increasing the spread of HIV infection among Nigerian women.

Children, on the other hand, can also be infected by HIV/AIDS. They are particularly affected if one or both parents are infected and the effect of HIV/AIDS is greatly felt by those orphaned by AIDS, because they have to face life’s challenges without their parents. Apart from grief, depression, dependency on others and denial of basic necessities, children orphaned by AIDS are often stigmatized and discriminated due to fear surrounding AIDS by people around them. Many of these orphans are therefore forced into exploitative situations such as prostitution, robbery and other evil acts which could get them infected as well, and even land them in jail or expose them to risks that may cut short their lives. The HIV/AIDS endemic toll on the number of school age children is very alarming, because the scourge decreases the rate of growth of the school age population.

Also HIV positive women have reduced fertility and mother-to-child transmission of the virus, which means increase in child mortality rate. HIV-Positive women have significantly more negative pregnancy outcomes, such as spontaneous abortions and still-births, than uninfected women. This is likely to further decrease the number of children 0-5 years of age in the households (Chomba and Piot, 1994). Women who are infected with the virus, are also regarded as child bearers, child rearers and care givers, they bear the brunt of the impact of HIV/AIDS, as they are responsible for their sick children or spouse. They are also saddled with the responsibility of caring for orphaned and vulnerable children. This is often a difficult role and task for women to perform.
Further more, the effect of HIV/AIDS on children relates to the projected increase in AIDS orphan hood and school dropouts. These may contribute to increased child labour, as children enter the work force at even younger age in search of financial support (Lisk, 2002).
In order to control HIV/AIDS and its effects on women and children, women’s vulnerability should be checked by passing and enforcing laws against gender discrimination, empowering women economically, improving access of girls to education and provision of basic necessities for the orphans.

Ikeoluwa AWE

The Battle lines of Malaria

2009-08-04T15:39:00.002Z

The Battle lines of Malaria

Malaria is a prominent disease which has continued its plight across the regions of the world. With a significant effect on countries across Africa, its landmark features has resulted in death of mothers, children, families, communities and cultures. Available records show that at least 50 per cent of the population of Nigeria suffers from at least one episode of malaria each year and malaria accounts for over 45 per cent of all out-patient visits. The disease accounts for 25 per cent of infant mortality and 30 per cent of childhood mortality in Nigeria. World Health Organisation (WHO, estimates 300-500 million cases of malaria, with over one million deaths each year. The battle lines to fight malaria through prevention, eradication and treatment continues to be a top priority assignment for Nigerians and advocate groups within various communities.

Malaria develops in the human body through a cycle of transmission which is assisted by bites from a female anopheles mosquito, the carrier of malaria parasite. The female anopheles mosquito is constantly looking for a blood meal to feed on to sustain itself through its breeding period. In a large population society like Nigeria, there is a strong possibility that the female anopheles mosquito will find the perfect blood meal in humans. When a female anopheles mosquito takes it routine bites in human’s everyday, it injects saliva mixed with an anticoagulant, if the mosquito is infected with plasmodium, that is the asexual cells of malaria parasites it also infects the host. The newly transmitted cells of malaria parasite continues to evolve and increase in number throughout the human body. These parasitic cells are born with an innate nature to swim through the human bloodstreams; they live comfortable within every organic corner they find in the human body. Their active movement continues to create a sense of chill, increase in body temperature, headaches, muscle aches, tiredness, nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, anaemia, and jaundice (yellow colouring of the skin and eyes). Convulsions, coma, severe anaemia and kidney failure can also occur. Most people begin feeling sick within10 days to 4 weeks after being infected. At this stage, the malaria parasitic cells, are in a state referred to as gametocytes, which comprises of male gametocytes and female gametocytes. Their growth and multiplication takes place inside red blood cells. As the malaria parasite continues to multiply and have an increased activity in the human body, the human host continues to grow weak and develop a low resistance to fight against this invasion hence needs to seek medical care.

In its mischievous attempt to continue its existence, malaria parasitic cells wait for the next flight… that is wait for the next mosquito bite and mix carefully with the mosquito saliva and passes on the gametocytes. The male and female gametocytes recombine in the intestinal walls of the mosquito forming another ready made parasite waiting for the next mosquito bite on another human host.

In Nigeria, malaria is not a backdoor disease but has taking the leading role in creating 11% of the cause of maternal death, rapid death of under five children, absenteeism from work and multiple health complications. Its problematic features make its budget siphoning to every stakeholder of the health sector. At the moment, Africa is largest territory region affected by activities of malaria trend with a share hold of 90% across the world. Leading research in medical science as found ways to prevent, treat and eradicate malaria across various zones in Nigeria. Organisation such as National Malaria Control Programme continues to foster measures to combat malaria and closely flanged the eloquent communication to the people by Development Communications Network to create public awareness of the high stake the disease has in the society.

Although common prevention measures exist (including use of medicine (prophylaxis), insecticides (coils and sprays), ordinary mosquito nets, insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and widow and door nets) malaria accounts for millions of needless deaths in Nigerian children, pregnant women and elderly people every year due to lack of knowledge of prevention, symptoms and proper treatment.

Malaria parasites continues to draw attention by evolving in its resistance to drug treatment which is now the leading cause for more research on its treatment and eradication. Strategic impartation of ways to prevent malaria continues to serve as the key to rescue the society from mortality pending the implementation of health policy for women, children, mothers, family and the community. Malaria continues to take high spot in the news across from rescue stories; to prevention and mass loss of people infected with malaria.

Malaria can be cured completely if only treated well, but many Nigerians rely on herbal drugs, traditional healers or just do without any medication at all. Information gaps need to be bridged and all Nigerians must be well informed about malaria and its implications to curb its prevalence and above all its shockingly high mortality rate.

Femi Adeolu Amele

Journalists commit to saving women and children’s lives

2009-07-21T16:19:00.003Z

Press Release:

Journalists commit to saving women and children’s lives

Lagos, Nigeria: Nigerian journalists have decried the needless deaths of Nigerian women and children in the course of child birth and debilitating child health services in the country. At the conclusion of a two day capacity building on ‘policy analysis for budget tracking of MDGs 4 & 5’, the senior editors and correspondents from 20 media organizations called on government to ensure that the health of mothers and children are made a priority in the implementation of health programs in the country.

The training, organized by Development Communications (DEVCOMS) Network, winner ONE Africa Award, 2008 under the aegis of the Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalist (NUJ), is DEVCOMS initiative in fulfilling the Ford Foundation supported project on “Strengthening mass media advocacy on improved national responses to the poor maternal health situation in Nigeria.

Akin Jimoh, Program Director of DEVCOMS Network, says it became necessary to organise the training for journalists since they are the ones who are the voice of the people, and at present the only hope of the common man. He asserts; “lots of funds are allocated every year by governments at all levels in Nigeria for health related issues, but much of the impacts are hardly seen nor felt”. Jimoh enunciates that the high rate of maternal, newborn and child mortality in Nigeria, could be reduced appreciably to a reasonable ebb if funds allotted for Primary Health Centres, drugs and other health challenges are judiciously used for the purpose for which they were released. This also echoes the aim of the ONE Award 2008, which Devcoms is the flagbearer in Africa.

NUJ Chairman Lagos State Chapter, Wahab Oba descries the training as a “wonderful opportunity that equips journalists to appraise budget from formulation to monitoring its implementation as well as evaluating the performance of government’s yearly budget. With the skills acquired we will now be able to monitor the growth and development in the country in achieving the MDGs and other key areas.”

In the same vein a facilitator at the training Emeka Nsofor, of Human Supports Services said that government world-over are being held accountable for the way they appropriate the people’s funds in their custody. Nsofor said it is high time the media in Nigeria, set the agenda of holding governments at all levels accountable for the funds/revenue they generate.

Also buttressing his views on the necessity of budget tracking, Kayode Iyalla one of the speakers during the training notes that since budget statements are fiscal policies, it is pertinent journalists know why policies fail in Nigeria. He stressed that policies ought to be deliberate plans of action, selected to achieve definite needs and goals. But “the reason why many policies do not succeed in the country is because they are not formulated as a result of the needs of the people,” he says.

Many of the journalists at the training said the programme was really an eye opener. Adekunle Yusuf, Senior Writer at Tell Magazine says “this training is highly beneficial and would aid in giving depth to whatever story we do concerning development issues in our work.” The participants pledged ensuring to give the news behind the figures, rather than just statistics which do not give the audience the true picture of governments spending as may have been proposed. The media professionals in attendance who represented all spheres of the media in Nigeria came up with ‘A call to action’ which was duly signed by all of them.

The media training on policy analysis and budget tracking of MDGs 4 & 5 organised by DEVCOMS network is the second in a series. The first was held for 22 journalists in May, 2009 at Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.

DEVCOMS network, is a pace setter in media development especially capacity building in public health and science journalism in Nigeria.

Groups seek imminent solutions to maternal mortality in Nigeria

2009-07-10T10:55:00.001Z

The high rate of maternal mortality encountered in Nigeria has caused a great concern to the Government, Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that focus on reproductive health issues, as well as to donors both at National and International levels. With barely six years to the stipulated targets of MDGs 4 & 5 which is year 2015, Nigeria is still not listed amongst the ten countries seen to have made rapid progress to meet the target.
At present Nigeria ranks one of the thirteen countries in the world with the highest MMR (Maternal Mortality Ratio).

However, intensive interventions are being put in place by both Government and Non Governmental bodies to see how to curb this alarming menace of maternal mortalities recorded in Nigeria. Also, strategic steps are taken to ensure that the country is given a new face in the global rating, as concerns MMR.

One of such interventions was a programme held in Abuja mid June, 2009 tagged “Nigerian NGOs workshop: Towards a consolidated role as Maternal, Newborn and Child Health advocates”. The programme which was put together by ACCESS (Access to Clinical and Community maternal, neonatal and women’s health services) and JHPIEGO (John Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynaecology and Obstetrics) in partnership with the Nigerian Government was aimed at bringing members of Non Governmental Organisation in line with (Maternal, Newborn and Child Health) MNCH strategy from the six geo-political zones in Nigeria to brainstorm on best strategies to addressing maternal mortality issues.

As the target of reducing the MMR by three-quarter in 2015, as stipulated by MDG 5 draws nearer, many people have begun to express doubts, as to how feasible this goal could be achieved. However for this target to be met, some health professionals and active NGO players in the area of reproductive health said that one key area that needs to be improved on, is primary health services at all levels. They are of the opinion that once there are adequate and well equipped primary health centres across the country, maternal and child health issues will be a work over.

Other participants at the program said that bulk passing amongst the three tiers of government needed to be addressed also, especially as it relates to funding. Also that health policies and implementation at all levels needed to be harmonized.

An official from one of the federal parastatals said that, “since NGOs play an important role in awareness raising and advocacy, their roles at the state and local governments cannot be over emphasised.”

In suggesting ways of curbing maternal and child mortality scourge in Nigeria, representatives of NGOs from the six geo-political zones were of the view that, primary health care centres needed to act as the coordinating point for implementation of (Integrated Maternal, Newborn and Child Health) IMNCH strategy. They canvassed to be part of the multi-sectoral platform for the planning, implementation, as well as at the monitoring and evaluation. They also solicited for improved funding at all levels for IMNCH.

The consensus at the two day workshop was that there is need for the federal government to scale up its activities at the states and local Government area. Being that NGOs have better ability to reach the grassroots effectively, there is need for the government to work closely with them.

In line with this, wife of Kwara State Governor, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Saraki who also participated at the workshop encouraged Non Governmental Organisation at the state level to work closely with wives of state Governors in the states they represent. She said that in Kwara state, government has taken the bull by the horn, to confront the menace out rightly. Some of the strategies she mentioned are:

Kwara State Official Wives Association, (KWASOWA) Safe Motherhood. (A vehicle with which she has made commendable progress in promoting Maternal and Child Survival in the state.)

Kwara Safe Motherhood-Be a Mother Programme.

Alaafia Kwara (The Kwara Wellbeing Trust) A sister organization with the mother foundation. (A pet project of the first Lady of Kwara State, an Independent Organisation

Alaafia Kwara Twins and Multiple Births Assistance Project: (Grants from this project are given to indigent mothers who have had multiple births. This financial and social support is also available for children under 5 years who lost their mothers at childbirth. The fund ensures that a sustainable structured plan is put in place to ensure that their immediate needs are met and are privy to a continuum of healthcare, in addition to educational opportunities.)

It could therefore be said that if the states and local governments could put in place comprehensive and functional health structures at all levels, then Nigeria will be seen to be making progress. Thus bulk passing amongst the tiers of government will be a thing of the past, as there will be apt cooperation from members of the community, since fighting this scourge needs all hands to be on deck.

According to the First lady of Kwara State, “it takes passion and commitment to fight this menace.” She said sacrifice is pertinent in dealing with the prevailing set back. One of her sacrificial effort she said is using her up-keep allowance to save the life of mothers and children in the Kwara state.

Indeed the Federal government’s current strategies on Maternal Newborn and Child Health needed to be replicated at the state and local government levels, where these mortalities are highest. Every state government should embrace the health insurance scheme and put up viable primary health structures.

In the words of the Mrs Oluwatoyin Saraki, “there is need for Nigeria to have a home grown donor agency where funds are made available devoid of International agencies all the time.”

- Ijeoma IHEME

Malaria in Pregnancy- The silent threat for mothers and unborns

2009-06-03T12:51:00.004Z

A bite from a mosquito is usually not considered a big deal. It itches for a short time and if you do not scratch it you will forget about it in a few minutes. But this little sting can threaten the life of every pregnant woman and the unborn child, if that particular mosquito passes on the malaria parasite. Malaria is the leading indirect cause of maternal mortality, accounting for 11% of deaths during pregnancy or delivery, what comes down to 5830 Nigerian women annually. Further more, it accounts for one quarter of all deaths in under five children in Nigeria.
Malaria is caused by the Plasmodium parasite which is carried by the female Anopheles mosquito. Mosquitoes come out at night in search of a bloodmeal. If a mosquito now bites a person who has malaria parasites in his or her blood the mosquito becomes the transmitter of the disease: The next time it bites another person and inject Plasmodium parasites in the person's blood which will cause malaria. This cycle repeats itself endlessly, resulting in about 300 million of malaria infections each year globally, with 90% of occurring in Africa. It is estimated that a person dies of malaria every ten seconds, most at risk are pregnant women and children under five. WHO estimates malaria sickens about 247 million people and kills nearly 1 million every year. Malaria disproportionately affects the poor, with 58% of malaria deaths occurring in the poorest 20% of the world’s population – a higher percentage than for any other disease of major public health importance.

Taking into consideration that about 7.5 million pregnancies occur every year in Nigeria, the magnitude of the malaria problem reveals itself: Malaria is more frequent and serious during pregnancy, causing anaemia (low blood) a main cause of maternal mortality and morbidity. During an epidemic of malaria, pregnant women are up to three times more likely to develop serious malaria as other adults. Severe malaria is classified by all the signs of uncomplicated malaria (which are fever, shivering, headaches, muscle/joint pains, nausea, mild anaemia and bitter taste in the mouth) plus one ore more of the following danger signs: Dizziness, difficult breathing, feeling drowsy, confusion, coma, severe dehydration, and severe anaemia. At the occurrence of any of this danger signs the woman must be referred to the hospital immediately to avoid complications and death. Complicated malaria requires specialized management at the health facilities, whereas uncomplicated malaria can be easily treated at home if recognized early. It is, however, essential to finish the course of treatment to ensure its efficiency. Unfortunately, malaria in pregnancy not only endangers the mothers. It can also have severe effects on the growth and development of the unborn child. The parasites hide in the placenta where they interfere with the transfer of oxygen and nutrients to the baby. This increases the risk of a spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, pre-term birth, and low weight babies- the single greatest risk factor for newborn death within the first month of life. Malaria accounts for about 5-14% of low birth weight prevalence.

The health consequences of malaria and HIV co-infection are not yet fully understood, but studies show serious implications for pregnant women and their unborn babies. Co-infected pregnant women are at very high risk of anaemia, and their children will havelow birth weights and are more likely to die in infancy. Recent research revealed that levels of HIV in the blood almost doubled when pregnant women with HIV got malaria. Those with impaired immune systems due to HIV/AIDS may also experience more malaria treatment failure. But malaria not only causes huge numbers of preventable deaths, its effects are also influencing communities to a large extent. Malaria results in frequent school absenteeism, missed work and lower productivity, and spending of large sums on medication and treatment. The presence of malaria has also been shown to have a negative impact on macroeconomic growth, inhibiting long-term growth and development to a degree that was previously unimagined. A comparative study of countries with and without malaria suggest that the presence of a high malaria burden results in a 1.3% lowering of the annual growth of the Gross Domestic Product per capita.

Malaria influences socioeconomic decisions, such as the siting of industrial projects, and it impacts negatively on the ability to attract capital developments and skilled labour. The presence of malaria is also an obstacle to the development of tourism in many regions.
The good news is: Malaria is easily preventable, and if detected early is also curable without much effort. The old practice of malaria chemoprophylaxis in pregnancy prescribed a 4 tablets dose of chloroquine at the first antenatal care visit, followed by a weekly dose of pyrimethamine during pregnancy up to six weeks postpartum. This practice, despite its effectiveness, created various problems: Many women are allergic against chloroquine and experienced itching pains, the frequent, regular intake is not guaranteed and sometimes impossible because of the financial burden, and health care providers tend to be uninformed about the correct dosages. As a result, FMOH and malaria Action Coalition implemented a new policy for malaria in pregnancy. One of its key pillars is focused antenatal care, including health education on malaria aiming at malaria prevention. Pregnant women are advised to always sleep under insecticide treaed bed nets (ITNs).

The benefits of ITNs are clear: They repel and kill mosquitoes, prevent physical contact with mosquitoes and additionally kill and repel other insects as lice, bedbugs, and cockroaches. The cost factor must also be considered: ITNs are far cheaper than treatment of acute malaria and they furthermore reduce the number of sick children and adults, ensuring productivity. ITNs can be purchased at pharmacies, in markets, in public and private health facilities or they are distributed by community health workers or NGOs working in the area of disease prevention. If they are used correctly and persistently and are re-treated every six months, ITN have been shown to avert around 50% of malaria cases.

Other areas of focus of the new policy on malaria in pregnancy are early detection & prompt appropriate case management of symptomatic women and intermittent preventive treatment (IPT). IPT replaces the old practice of malaria chemoprophylaxis and is based on the assumption that every pregnant woman living in an area of high malaria transmission has malaria parasites in her blood or placenta, whether or not she has symptoms of malaria. WHO recommends that every pregnant woman should receive two doses of IPT and attend at least 4 antenatal care visits. Presently, the most effective drug for IPT is sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP). Overall coverage of IPT to every pregnant woman is targeted, but special target groups are women in their first or second pregnancies, HIV positive women, adolescent women (aged 10-19), and women with sickle cell disease, as they are more prone to high risk pregnancies.
IPT is best given when the foetal growth velocity is at its highest, in order to reduce placental parasitaemia and resultant foetal growth retardation. That means practically that the first dose should be given from week 16 of pregnancy on, and the second dose should follow with at least 4 weeks space in between up to week 36. But however, if any signs of malaria occur in the woman she still needs to seek medical care.

Without a doubt, these interventions on community level can only succeed if government and other stakeholders completely commit themselves towards the fight against malaria. The key message of the importance of preventing malaria in pregnant women by sleeping under ITNs and taking IPT medication must be passed on to every Nigerian citizen, using both English and the local dialects. The media must be engaged fully in the coverage of malaria issues and educate their audiences on prevention and treatment of the disease. The federal ministry of health need to ensure supply with adequate and sufficient drugs to every health facility and accelerate coverage of free or highly subsidized ITNs and otehr materials for pregnant women and children. All efforts aiming at prevention must be complemented by effective case management of malaria illness for all women of reproductive age, emphasizing screening and prompt treatment for anaemia.

If only detected early enough malaria can be cured, its effects on the unborn child can be prevented and maternal and newborn mortality can be effectively curbed. Antenatal care and treatment can save the lives of thousands of Nigerian mothers and children, so make sure every pregnant woman takes that opportunity!

---Sofia Krauss

Now published on
http://www.champion-newspapers.com/daily%20champion%20files/health/article1.htm

Economic Meltdown and Maternal Mortality

2009-04-29T12:35:00.002Z

Today the entire world seems to be thrown into a state of panic over the present global economic meltdown. All countries of the world are talking about it and strategising on how to get out of the worst in no time. However, one begins to wonder why this is getting this much attention . The answer may not be far fetched. Aside from every other guesses, one salient fact why we have such a rapid and “sincere” response to address the issue of global economic meltdown is because it affects men directly.

The above assertion is based on the fact that despite the alarming rate at which women die while trying to give life (that is during pregnancy, childbirth or 42 days after pregnancy), governments of the world still remain silent on the issue. Even when something seems to be done, it ends up being a policy without a political will. Today, it is estimated that 6.8 million pregnancies occur each year in Nigeria with about 63% ending in planned birth, 10% in mistimed or unwanted births, 16% in miscarriage and 11% in induced abortion amounting to 760,000 induced abortions occurring in Nigeria annually. While considering these facts on the one hand, on the other hand it is equally pertinent to avert our mind to the fact that 1/3 (one in three) of maternal deaths is caused by abortion and 25% (that is, 1 out 4 women in this category) die from abortion complications every year (Facts deduced from “Unsafe Abortion: The silent Killer” by The Campaign Against Unwanted Pregnancy).

Furthermore, the world Health Organisation (WHO) puts maternal mortality ratio at 1,100 to 100,000 life births while the Federal Ministry of Health puts it at 800 to 100,000 life births. However, some practitioners still posit that both figures are under estimated. Beyond the figures, the issue remains that women are dying in the process of giving life. Unfortunately, Nigeria, being the giant of Africa, remains a giant heavily hit by death which could have been avoided as she finds herself in a situation where in every one hour 6 women are lost to complications arising from pregnancy.

Despite the above facts, Nigeria is still deeply rooted in the “denial culture”. While induced abortion continues to cause maternal death still we deny its existence. Maternal mortality is also on the increase, because getting contraception is difficult, the primary health care system is weak and there is little or no sincerity in government policies at addressing this issue.
Maternal mortality, most likely, would have been long dealt with by a radical approach if men also directly experienced it (possibly in form of paternal mortality). Concrete results would have been achieved if men also experienced pregnancy and complications arising.. There would have been progressive laws and adequate funds for tackling this silent killer. However, this first proposition is impossible at least given the human biological nature.

Thus, it is pertinent to look at practical ways of reducing maternal mortality. Firstly, there must be conscious effort of all and sundry geared at improving upon family planning services and increasing the knowledge base of women on the proper use of contraceptives including emergency contraceptives pills. Secondly, poverty and illiteracy level of women must be looked into. Sexuality (Family Life) education should be incorporated into secondary school curriculum. Thirdly, abortion care services should be made safer and the laws reformed. Also, the media should make positive effort at disseminating clear message on the need to prevent unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortion. More importantly, men should be educated about their sexual and reproductive health responsibility to their wives, partners, and daughters and so on. Lastly, a situation where a girl who gets pregnant is sent out of school and never readmitted to school while the boy who had impregnated her remains in school is not proper. The girl should be given an opportunity to return to school after child birth.

The above not withstanding, women, aside from children, are the worse affected by the economic meltdown. Given the situation where a lot of women live below poverty level (that is, less than $1 a day) and now compounded by the present global economic meltdown, the purchasing power of women even to assess contraceptive is further inhibited. Therefore there is need to look at making contraceptive not just available to women but also available to women free of charge. It is worthy to note also that the proper use of contraception by women would also help the country in its population control with a rather bad growth rate of 2.8%.
Saving the lives of our women is our responsibility as a nation. Save the life of a woman, save the nation from going into extinction some day.

*Lucky Kawe

Hazards of Teenage Pregnancy

2009-04-28T10:26:00.003Z

It is no longer a diplomatic statement that young people in the last decade, especially within the age group of 10-18 years, are living beyond the yard sticks of adventures compared to the youths of the 60s'. A blend of unpredictable, news breaking activities and issues of topmost concern has risen in the last few years. One of the most striking facts is the rising number of teenage pregnancy. Teenage pregnancy is a result of sexual intercourse between young girls and boys who are in their growing years, exploring the changes happening in their bodies by having unsafe sex with each other. Health organizations across the world are still in the frontlines of reducing maternal deaths due to complications and diseases, with an ever rising more to do with the increasing number of teenage pregnancy.

Bearing a child while still a child themselves, these young mothers are prone to birth injuries and maternal death. It also affects their emotional well being: Teenage mothers are 3 times more likely to suffer from post-natal depression and experience poor mental health for up to 3 years after the birth. Children born to teenage mothers have 60% higher rates of infant mortality and are at increased risk of low birth-weight which impacts on the child's long-term health. Further more, they are at increased risk to be brought up in poverty.

“These adolescent actions have matured consequence”, states Chineye Nwokolo (18 years), a member of Youth Rescue Club, a teenage advocacy group based at Association for Family and Reproductive Health (ARFH) Ibadan. Chineye narrated about the terrain of her adolescence, compared to the experience with a pregnant girlfriend of hers:“About three years ago, I lost a friend to the plight of teenage pregnancy. She dropped out from being my classmate in school and could hardly be regarded to enjoy any teenage experience, like I did. Her name is also Chineye. I saw my friend draw back from what could have been a future for her into the waters of idleness, pain, outright isolation and oblivion. Against my convictions, Chineye's family believed she had brought home a gift into the family. Her mother was a sales woman in the market and her dad just lost his job; tentatively speaking they are a well-to-do family. Chineye had four sisters, for their middle age mother who was closing in to the end of child bearing years this was an opportunity to have a son through her daughter. Her parents did not really care who was responsible but looked forward to the joy of having a male child in the family at all cost, which makes me wonder if she was not pushed out by her parents in the first place to get pregnant! With her parents support, my friend exploited the opportunity to be pampered in her new state. She gave birth and soon enough was back in the crooks and corners were she got pregnant in the first place; I tried reaching out to her to understand the social setback it has cost her but she excusably pointed out to other girls around us who were also getting pregnant. Pregnancy was now a fashionable trend in our community, and week in and out somebody was naming a child, become victim of maternal death, or was commercially parading their pregnancy status. Chineye's child, the adorable little girl, died 4 weeks after delivery. Apparently the family had stopped celebrating the newborn girl with respect to having expected a boy. Little attention was being paid to her medically. She was gone within a short while of her arrival.I can't put a value on the opportunity she missed out in her academics, social growth and uniqueness. My strong convictions are that Chineye represents thousands and thousands of children who are living under the hazard of teenage pregnancy due to the low level of orientation about teenage pregnancy; indiscipline by the parents and moral guidance on understanding the teenage adventures.”

Evidence from areas with the largest reductions has identified a range of factors that need to be in place to successfully reduce teenage pregnancy rates. These factors include a well-publicised contraceptive and sexual health advice service which is centred on young people. The service needs to have a strong remit to undertake health promotion work, as well as delivering reactive services. It is key to prioritize sexual and reproductive health education at schools, supported from the local authority to develop comprehensive programmes of sex and relationships education (SRE) in all schools. A strong focus on targeted interventions with young people at greatest risk of teenage pregnancy, in particular with looked-after children must be put in place to effectively curb teenage pregnancies and its many undesirable effects.

-Femi Adeolu Amele

Which way to 2015, Nigeria?

2009-04-17T12:16:00.003Z

Creating a supportive environment for maternal and newborn health

Despite the relatively short time left until 2015, Nigeria still lags behind in reaching her Millennium Development Goals. The gap becomes most obvious in the area of maternal, newborn and child health, encapsulated in the MDGs 4 & 5. Nigeria is the world's second largest contributor to maternal mortality, accounting for 10% of all global maternal deaths. This sad second-highest ranking is also found in under- five mortality rates, resulting in the death of one out of every five Nigerian children before their fifth birthday (191 out of every 1000 children). This number is shockingly high, especially compared to the target of 77 out of 1000 which is to be achieved in only six years time. If we look at maternal morbidity the condition seems similarly grim: MDG 5 aims at curbing maternal mortality from presently 1000 per 100.000 life births, signifying mothers dying in the course of pregnancy, delivery or immediately after childbirth, to 250 out of 100.000, a reduction of about three quarters. The key question remains: Can these goals ever be met?

The most reasonable response is: Yes, they can. But there are many steps to be taken to effectively curb maternal and infant deaths in Nigeria. A supportive environment for maternal, newborn and child health must be created through various approaches, programs, community interventions and involvement of all stakeholders, most importantly the Nigerian society. Education for women and girls is essential, as women are the center of all interventions in maternal and child health issues. Research has shown that education until at least secondary level lowers maternal and child mortality drastically. On the one hand, these women are less likely to marry early which delays their first pregnancy and lowers their exposure to maternity risks. Complications from pregnancy and childbirth are an important cause of mortality for girls aged 15-19 worldwide, accounting for 70.000 deaths annually.

If the first pregnancy can be delayed till at least 20 years of age maternal mortality risks are curbed drastically and the babies of women over 20 are most likely to be healthier. These women are far more likely to immunize their children and provide adequate nutrition and disease prevention, resulting in reduced infant deaths. Furthermore, women's education sustains economic growth, thereby automatically creating a better health system. Children of underage mothers often suffer from low birth-weight, malnutrition, and late physical and cognitive development. To create a supportive environment for mothers and children, women must be more involved in decision making processes, both at household level (studies have shown that when women are able to participate in key decisions in the household, they are more likely to ensure that their children are well nourished and seek appropriate medical care for themselves and their children) and within the communities. Community initiatives are highly effective in improving the health of mothers and children as they can challenge attitudes and practices that entrench gender discrimination. Women can share work and pool resources, for example in contributing money to pay transport to the hospital in case of an emergency.
Regular visits and basic health education through community health workers is a key pillar of necessary interventions. The health workers advocate for key household practices such as sleeping under insecticide treated bed nets to prevent mosquito bites and malaria, exclusive breastfeeding, and hand-washing with soap or ash. All these interventions have been proved highly effective in ensuring the health of children and mothers and prevent the most common causes of child death. And they are practically for free.

These initiatives aiming at women empowerment need to be backed up by community support, above all by from ment. Present attitudes of gender discrimination need to be addressed and challenged. This calls for the help and commitment of religious & community leaders towards improving the situation for women in Nigeria. Harmful traditional practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) need to be abolished completely. Another field of action is the prevalence of physical violence against women, which causes many health problems for women and their born or unborn babies. Legislation against woman-battering must be implemented and effectively enforced throughout the country.
Without a doubt, the government also has to play its role and deliver the adequate services at critical points. This includes investment in infrastructure to ensure the access to safe water, good nutrition, adequate sanitation and hygiene facilities, as well as disease prevention and treatment for every Nigerian citizen. Facilities must have sufficient medicines, supplies, equipment and trained personnel. Every pregnant woman must be granted the access to quality antenatal care, skilled assistance at delivery and clean delivery facilities to prevent severe infections. In case of an emergency, EOC (Emergency Obstetric Care) should be available at every secondary and tertiary health facility to save the life of mothers and newborns alike.

After giving birth post-natal care and neonatal care should be easily available at every health facility. Antenatal and postnatal care also serve as a means of educating the mother on best practices with her newborn, stress the importance of exclusive breastfeeding and promote hygienic child care. In order to put all this initiatives in place it is essential to expand the Maternal, Newborn and Child health workforce and establish solid financing mechanisms. Government must be prepared and willing to allocate more resources to MNCH- because it is the nation as a whole who will finally profit from living mothers and healthy babies.

--Sofia Krauss

A critical view of malaria homecare and the new global malaria drug subsidy

2009-04-17T11:22:00.002Z

Treating African children at home for malaria doesn't help in cities because most fevers aren't actually caused by malaria, said a new study published online in the medical journal Lancet. Experts monitored more than 400 children aged between 1 and 6 in Kampala, Uganda, from 2005-2007. Malaria drugs were distributed to households where parents had been told by researchers to automatically treat their children if they became feverish. Roughly half the children were treated at home while the other half were taken to health clinics within a day of developing a fever. The study found that children at home got twice as many medicines as those taken to clinics, but didn't do any better.

Home-based management of fever aims to improve the chances that a child with malaria will be promptly and appropriately treated. In high-prevalence settings, treatment with antimalarial drugs is likely to be appropriate, since the cause is more likely to be malaria than not. However, in settings with lower transmission rates, there is a risk that children with non-malarial fever will be treated as having malaria and the true underlying cause (such as pneumonia) will not be addressed.Some doctors said the study showed a worrying tendency to treat fevers before they were diagnosed as malaria: "If you just go on fever, you're over-treating so many children and you could miss other diseases by using malaria drugs," said Dr. Tido von-Schoen Angerer of Doctors Without Borders. Malaria medicines don't work on fevers caused by other diseases, and children can die if they are not properly treated.

Previous studies have found home treatment works in rural areas. But malaria is also a problem in cities, and will have to be tackled differently there than in the countryside. Across Africa, the World Health Organization puts the figure of children promptly treated with effective medication at only 3 percent. The United Nations and partners lately announced a $200 million strategy called the Affordable Medicines Facility for Malaria to make drugs cheaper in 11 African countries. The Affordable Medicines Facility for Malaria (AMFm) will massively subsidise the price of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), the most effective malaria treatments that exist today. The scheme seeks to reduce the price of ACTs sufficiently to drive older, ineffective treatments that are still being purchased because they are considerably cheaper, out of the market. Von-Schoen Angerer and others worry the tendency to over-treat malaria, as provn by the Lancet study, will be worsened by the strategy. They fear it will flood the market with drugs that promote resistance.

The initiative, led by WHO and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, will subsidize the price of artemesinin combination therapies, the most effective malaria treatments. But the U.N. has not insisted the drugs be combined in a single pill, which would curb the resistance risk. Artemesinin combination therapies are also sold as several pills. Some cause side effects like nausea, and patients commonly throw those pills out, encouraging resistance. "The risk of resistance is very scary," von-Schoen Angerer said. "We don't have a back-up medicine at this stage." Richard Tren, director of the nonprofit Africa Fighting Malaria, called the U.N. initiative "an untested experiment," and warned the strategy could backfire. "We need policies based on evidence," he said. "And the evidence this could work is pretty shaky."

The Role of Education in addressing maternal health and the newborn child

2009-03-26T09:54:00.003Z

At a critical time, when one could describe the status of educational impartation to be tangling across progress and recession, stakeholders in the education sector, media and advocate of national hope converged at Development Communications Network to discuss the way forward. Facilitators for the media forum were Mrs. Abolaji Osime, State team leader of Education Sector Support Program in Nigeria (ESSPIN), supported by Mrs. Taiye Alagbe, Communication & Knowledge Management Officer of ESSPIN.

Abolaji Osime briefed the media group on the core values which ESSPIN represents and on how the organization has been in the fore front of supporting the Federal and State Governments in Nigeria to make sustainable improvements in basic education services. “With a strong program output, ESSPIN has ventured into strengthening the governance framework of the Federal Government to enable basic education reform, strengthening State-level governance and management of basic education reform, improve the learning environment for children and promote demand for better education services” stated Mrs. Osime.

The state team leader also pointed out the pivot relationship between education and health: “Investments by Government in nutrition, health and education have a long term impact on economic growth and social development. Education improves hygienic practices. The use of health practices such as family planning allows the individual to make better choices impacting on productivity, which in turn has a significant impact on economic growth, poverty eradication, child survival and improved maternal health.”

She stressed that health & education were extremely important, as they are subject of 5 out of 8 Millennium Development Goals. Healthy populations are a major engine of economic growth. But Nigeria continues to strive to meet up with its goals for 2015, which are (MDGs related to health & education):
Achieve universal primary education
According to FME, only about 50% of children under the age of 15 are in school in Nigeria. There are major disparities between the North and south, rural/urban areas and across genders

Promote gender equality and empower women
Percentage female enrolment is about 45%

Reduce child mortality
Nigeria is ranked 14th in the world in under-fives deaths. 1million children under age 5 die each year (close to 200 out of every 1000 children in national average). The major causes of infant mortality are acute respiratory infections, malaria, diarrhoea and HIV/AIDS. Underlying these deaths are levels of education, poverty, ignorance, socio-cultural and religious issues. If we proceed at this level, it will take us 70 years to achieve the MDGs.

Improve maternal health
Nigeria accounts for 10% of maternal deaths worldwide; although the country only accounts for 20% of the worlds population

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Due to its prevalence, malaria has had an impact on productivity and is a major cause of infant mortality. Studies show that between 1 and 5% of Nigeria’s GDP is lost to malaria

It was pointed out that there is a need to anchor our values in the health and education system around core features such as motivation to learn, active community participation, value of academic achievement, ability to proceed to further learning, social and civic skills, economic well-being and healthier students.

WHO defines Health as a State of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Good health not only promotes human development, it enhances work skills and promotes economic growth via increased productivity.
Early marriage is a huge contributor to maternal morbidity and mortality. Bearing a child while still an adolescent herself, these teenage girls are twice as vulnerable to complications during pregnancy, birth injuries, and maternal mortality than mothers above the age of 20.
National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) 2003 shows that women who attended at least 7 years of school are far less likely to marry before the age of 20 ( 25,5%) compared to those who attended less than 7 years of schooling (83,5%). Female education must therefore be given priority in effectively curbing maternal mortality, as women with a higher educational level are also more aware of risk signs during pregnancy and after delivery, are more likely to seek medical care, and use modern methods of contraception more often. Furthermore, female education is closely linked to child survival : An educated woman is 50% more likely to have her children immunized and deaths of children under five years of mothers who have spent at least seven years in primary education is reduced drastically. (NDHS,2003)

6th of February: International day of zero tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

2009-02-06T10:36:00.002Z

"All over my thighs were marks from the ropes, dotted with patches from the lice wounds. Now I was to look after myself, to ensure that everything remained intact until the day I married."
—From "The Cut," Maryam Sheikh Abdi's autobiographical poem

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, the act of cutting, removal, and sometimes sewing up of external female genitalia for cultural or other nontherapeutic reasons still poses a huge threat to the health and life of millions of women: An estimated 100 million to 140 million girls and women worldwide have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and more than 3 million girls are at risk for cutting each year on the African continent alone.
This harmful tradition continues to take place today in Nigeria, irrespective of religion or culture, for reasons that include: Beliefs about health and hygiene, custom and tradition, religious demand, aesthetic reasons, protection of virginity, increasing sexual pleasure for the husband, enhancing fertility and increasing matrimonial opportunities.
According to the latest DHS findings (2003) 85% of girls who have undergone FGM were circumcised between the ages of one and four.
A highly respected woman in the community, such as birth attendants, barbers and medical health workers, performs the ritual. It causes physical and psychological damages to the victims and its effects are both immediate and life-long. The physical effects are as follows: Uncontrolled bleeding, severe pain, urine retention, genital ulcerations, scar formation, VVF/RVF, shock, increased risk of HIV/AIDS infection, and even death.
Some long-term complications, such as infection, have been known to cause infertility and obstructed labour.

The psychological effects are seen in anxiety, depression, frigidity and elimination of sexual pleasure. (Nigeria Progress Report on FGM for WHA 2008)

FGM is a fundamental violation of women’s and girl’s rights. It violates the right to health and to physical integrity, to be protected from harmful traditional practices, to be free from injury and abuse.
Furthermore, girls usually undergo the practice without their informed consent, depriving them of the opportunity to make independent decisions about their body.

Ten states in Nigeria have passed legislation outlawing FGM and zonal training workshops for ex-circumsisors on alternative employment have been conducted, but as a result of inadequate funding, resistance to change as FGM is deeply rooted in culture and erroneously in religion, the so-called “medicalisation” of the FGM practice ( involvement of modern health practitioners in the performance preventing the development of effective and long-term solution for the abandonment of FGM ), and lack of legislation against FGM at the national level there is still an estimated 19 % prevalence of affected women aged 15-49 throughout the country.

UNICEF releases 'The state of the world's children report' 2009

2009-02-05T13:57:00.002Z

On January 15 2009, UNICEF launched the new "The State of the World's Children" report whose focus is on maternal and newborn health. Those are known to be very pressing problems all over Africa and Asia. The lifetime risk of maternal death for a woman in a least developed country is more than 300 times greater than for a woman living in an industrialized country. Nigeria is one of the major contributors to maternal and infant mortality; and an extra chapter is dedicated to maternal health in Nigeria:

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country, with 148 million
inhabitants in 2007, 25 million of them under age five. With
almost 6 million births in 2007 – the third highest number in
the world behind India and China – and a total fertility rate
of 5.4, Nigeria’s population growth continues to be rapid in
absolute terms.
In addition to its sizeable population, Nigeria is known for
its vast oil wealth. Nonetheless, poverty is widespread;
according to the latest World Development Indicators 2007,
published by the World Bank, more than 70 per cent of
Nigerians live on less than US$1 per day, impairing their
ability to afford health care.
Poverty, demographic pressures and insufficient investment
in public health care, to name but three factors, inflate levels
and ratios of maternal and neonatal mortality. The latest
United Nations inter-agency estimates place the 2005 average
national maternal mortality ratio at 1,100 deaths per
100,000 live births and the lifetime risk of maternal death at
1 in 18. When viewed in global terms, the burden of maternal
death is brought into stark relief: Approximately 1 in
every 9 maternal deaths occurs in Nigeria alone.
The women who survive pregnancy and childbirth may face
compromised health; studies suggest that between 100,000
and 1 million women in Nigeria may be suffering from
obstetric fistula. Neonatal deaths in 2004 stood at 249,000,
according to the latest World Health Organization figures,
with 76 per cent taking place in the early neonatal period
(first week of life). Inadequate health facilities, lack of transportation
to institutional care, inability to pay for services
and resistance among some populations to modern health
care are key factors behind the country’s high rates of
maternal, newborn and child mortality and morbidity.
Disparities in poverty and health among Nigeria’s
numerous ethnolinguistic groups and between its states
are marked. Poverty rates in rural areas, estimated at
64 per cent in 2004, are roughly 1.5 times higher than the
urban-area rate of 43 per cent. Moreover, the poverty rate
in the north-east region, which stands at 67 per cent,
is almost twice the level of 34 per cent in the more
prosperous south-east.
Low levels of education, especially among women, and
discriminatory cultural attitudes and practices are barriers
to reducing high maternal mortality rates. A study at the
Jos University Teaching Hospital in the north-central region
shows that nearly three quarters of maternal deaths in 2005
occurred among illiterate women. The mortality rate among
women who did not receive antenatal care was about 20
times higher than among those who did. Of the several ethnic
groups represented among the patients, Hausa-Fulani
women accounted for 22 per cent of all deliveries and 44
per cent of all deaths. The Hausa-Fulani represent the
largest ethnic group in northern Nigeria and are therefore
critically affected by this region’s higher poverty rates.
Cultural attitudes and practices that discriminate against
women and girls contribute to maternal mortality and morbidity.
Child marriage and high rates of adolescent births
are commonplace across Nigeria, exposing girls and
women of reproductive age to numerous health risks.
Given these complex realities, developing strategies to
accelerate progress on maternal and newborn health
remains a considerable challenge. But the Government of
Nigeria, together with international partners, is attempting
to meet the challenge. In 2007, it began to implement a
national Integrated Maternal, Newborn and Child Health
(IMNCH) Strategy to fast-track high-impact intervention
packages that include nutritional supplements, immunization,
insecticide-treated mosquito nets and prevention
of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
The strategy is to be rolled out in three phases, each lasting
three years, and has been designed along the continuum of
care model to strengthen Nigeria’s decentralized health system,
which operates at the federal, state and local levels. In
the initial phase, covering 2007–2009, the key focus will be
identifying and removing bottlenecks, while delivering a
basic package of services using community-based and
family-care strategies. A sizeable proportion of expenditure
will go towards artemisinin-based combination therapy to
combat malaria in women, children and newly recruited
and trained health workers, particularly in rural areas. As
basic healthcare improves, it is anticipated that the demand
for clinical services will increase.
The second and third phases of the IMNCH will place
greater emphasis on building health infrastructure. Over
nine years, the strategy aims to revitalize existing facilities,
construct clinics and hospitals, and create incentives –
such as dependable salaries, hardship allowances and
performance-based bonuses – that will help retain skilled
health professionals in Nigeria’s health system.
The IMNCH strategy, if implemented in full and on time,
can markedly improve maternal and newborn health.
Together with this package, the country has recently passed
the National Health Insurance Scheme, which integrates
the public and private health sectors to make health care
more affordable for Nigerians. If the government passes
the National Health Bill, which is currently before the legislature,
a direct funding line for primary health care will
become available. These health-system improvements have
the potential to set a new course for meeting Millennium
4 and 5 in Africas largest nation.

Induced abortion, major cause of maternal mortality

2009-01-30T10:27:00.000Z

“Of the main causes of maternal mortality, unsafe abortion is the single most preventable cause of death” states the sixth periodic report of Nigeria to the CEDAW Committee. It has been estimated, that more than 456.000 unsafe abortions take place every year in Nigeria, as a result of the restrictive abortion law which permits abortion only to safe a pregnant woman's life. Nigeria loses about 34.000 women every year due to induced abortion and the complications. As a matter of fact, a number of complications have been reported to have stemmed from the process of trying to carry out an abortion. Such complications including severe bleeding, pain and fever are obviously life-threatening and could lead to death if proper post- abortion treatments are not carried out.

It has been argued that a cross-section of Nigerian women who are not educated wants to have as many children as possible, but they suddenly realize that with the economic situation and the cost of raising many children, they have to device means of reducing the number of children they bear. That is not to say that only uneducated Nigerians engage in abortion practices; even the educated class who fail to adopt family planning techniques find themselves in tight corners.Induced abortion is basically a deliberate attempt to terminate a pregnancy prematurely. Several methods have been associated with the practice, mostly determined by the financial status and the level of exposure as well as the amount of information a pregnant woman is armed with.Although quiet a number of abortions are done in the hospitals, yet the high toll of death occurring from unsafe abortions performed by quacks and through other unprofessional means still remain worrisome. Findings have revealed that an average of 760, 000 induced abortions occur annually with the methods adopted ranging from consulting a local chemist, a traditional healer to ingesting tablets, while a lot of abortions are carried out by the patients themselves.

Several factors may be responsible for terminating a pregnancy; it is indispensable to state at this junction that an unsafe abortion is dangerous and should not be encouraged. There is a need for urgent re-orientation of the Nigerian women about abortion and its consequences. It is not a gainsaying that the avoidance of an unwanted pregnancy through the use of effective family planning techniques administered by a qualified medical practitioner could reduce maternal mortality by an appreciable percentage.Lastly, an effective abortion law and reproductive right should be given priority in order to address maternal health and right with emphasis on the post abortion care; which can be achieved by the co-operation between the government, stakeholders, NGOs and international organizations.

Child Development Index (CDI) ranks Nigeria amongst the worst countries worldwide in terms of child health & development

2008-12-15T11:43:00.003Z

Nigeria's Index Score :
1990-1994 49.37
1995-1999 43.06
2000-2006 40.53

Sub-Saharan Africa’s Regional Index Score :
1990-1994 43.4
1995-1999 41.0
2000-2006 34.5

CDI Ranking 126th of 137 countries (in 2000-06)

Save the Children UK has introduced the first ever multi-dimensional tool to monitor and compare the well-being of children around the world. More than 135 developed and developing countries worldwide have been assessed through the following methodology:
Each country has been given a score from 0-100, resulting in its ranking. The score is compiled by adding up each country’s performance in 3 child-specific areas: child mortality, child malnutrition, and primary school enrolment. A low score and ranking are best, representing a low level of child deprivation. Niger has the worse score, at 58, ranking 137th of 137 countries in 2000-06.

Nigeria’s Child Development Index score and its ranking are shown above; they are high, indicating a high level of child deprivation. It scores worse than the most recent Sub-Saharan Africa average score of 34.5, and much worse, predictably, than the world score of 17.5 in 2000-06. Nigeria is categorised as a low income country and its score is also higher than the average low income group score of 29.2.

Nigeria’s overall improvement of 18% is slower than the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) regional rate of improvement of 20.5% over all three periods, which is well below the world average improvement of 34%. Worst still, Nigeria ’s rate of improvement has stalled drastically; from a 12.8% improvement between the first and second period to a meagre 5.8% improvement between the second and last periods. This is in reverse to the SSA performance, which accelerated after the middle period.

Until recently, Nigeria was one of the most highly indebted countries in the world. At the same time, aid was scarce when it is considered that it is Africa ’s most densely populated country with over 140 million people. While Nigeria is one of the world’s largest oil producers, the country’s oil income amounts to just 24p per person per day.Shackled by a long history of military dictatorship, instability and corruption, the country has failed to integrate the commitment and resources necessary to achieve meaningful progress.

Looking at the individual indicators that make up the Index we see that although there does not seem to be a particular indicator driving Nigeria ’s results,the greatest improvements have been made in terms of the nutrition indicator, with a 20% positive change. Their education indicator has improved by 18% overall but as of 2005, only 63.4 % of all primary school-aged children were enrolled. Most worrying is the country’s under-5 mortality rate which remained at 191 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2006. Despite such a disturbingly high rate, Nigeria ’s improvement on this indicator has only improved by 17% overall. A 23% positive change between the first and second periods lost momentum and actually regressed by 9% between the second and last periods.

It is most interesting to compare how each country ranks in CDI Index with how each ranks in the UN’s Human Development Index (HDI). Nigeria comes 117th in a ranking of all 137 countries using the HDI, but 126th in the Child Development Index. This means that there is a significant difference between child well-being and adult well-being. In this case, Nigeria performs worse in terms of the CDI then the HDI.

The comparisons of CDI Index with income ranking and HDI ranking demonstrate that child well-being can often present a very different picture from traditional measures; this is why the Child Development Index should be disseminated throughout the world and used to help hold governments accountable on child well-being.

2nd Meeting of NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR MATERNAL, NEWBORN AND CHILD HEALTH takes place in Abuja

2008-12-12T13:16:00.001Z

To join forces in the fight against abysmally high maternal and infant mortality in Nigeria the PARTNERSHIP FOR MATERNAL, NEWBORN AND CHILD HEALTH has been inaugurated in April 2008. The partnership includes not only various departments of the Federal Ministry of Health (such as Family Health, Nutrition, Child Health, Publicity Department), but also involves developmental partners as WHO and UNICEF, national and international non-governmental organizations and representatives of the private sector.

The first meeting introduced a new approach to curb maternal and child morbidity and mortality: The Integrated Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Strategy (IMNCHS). This strategy aims at a multi-sectoral partnership to address Nigeria’s grave problems within the health care delivery system through involvement of all participants: Health workers, nurses, pharmacists, community leaders, politicians, media executives.

The second meeting was held to make sure that the IMNCHS is effectively implemented and the partnership presented their activities in 2008, indentified key activities for 2009 and tried to build a concensus on the way forward. It was stated by the technical working group that Nigeria is still far from making progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals 4 & 5. But they also had good news to announce: The IMNCHS Document has been fully developed and trainings for service providers, midwives and journalists have been conducted so far. Furthermore, the Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) is about to start, a program that will recruite fresh fresh graduates from midwive schools and unemployed midwives to deploy themto underserved areas. WHO presented their NYSC Doctors Initiative which trains doctors to manage Emergency Obstetric Care (OEC).

But it was stressed that the main impediment towards ensuring quality health care is the lack of human resource. Other barriers are inadequate state data for monitoring progress, inequitable distribution of health workers, poor referral system, poor routine immunization, low level of health literacy and poverty as a cross-cutting issue, especially in terms of user fees.

The advocacy working group presented the engagement of Nigeria’s first ladies (First ladies MNC Initiative), formation of partnership with private sector organizations such as banks and development of advocacy materials. High level advocacy visits have been conducted by members of the advocacy committee and two TV appearances dealt with the PARTNERSHIP FOR MNCH so far.

But it was stressed that more public attention must be drawn to the poor health of mothers and children in the country. As Prof. Ladipo, Chairman of the advocacy and resource mobilization working group put it: “It is essential to improve the health literacy of our population and saturate the public with health information. We need weekly stories on maternal and infant mortality!”

Allocation of appropriate funds proved as a major obstacle, too. In these respect it was decided to shift more focus on advocacy visits to ministries, state governers, and media owners in 2009. In addition to that a database of all present and potential partners is to be developed, and information on activities and events of partners are to be communicated timely and amongst all partners to reach broad participation and mutual attention. Scale up of media trainings on IMNCHS was approved by all partners, and short & easy-to-remember slogans on Safe Motherhood are to be developed and aired frequently, following the example of HIV/AIDS messages.

After hours of fruitful discussions, a communiqué was approved and finally presented to the Permanent Secretary of Health Division, Dr. Abdullahi Salami. Looking at achievements and challenges, informing on possible solutions to the latter and pleading for support in their implementation, the communiqué stressed the importance of the involvement of local governments and interventions at community level. Dr. Salami expressed gratitude on behalf of the ministry for the meeting, which has suceeded in bringing together ideas and strategies of various players and was an important step in forming an effective synergy of actors trying to achieve the MDG’s. He closed the meeting with an appeal stressing the responsibility of everybody:

“Change begins with you and me. It is a shame where Nigeria stands today in terms of maternal and child health, looking at all her natural and human resources.”

*Sofia Krauss

Nigeria- Off track in reaching MDG 4 & 5

2008-11-04T11:12:00.005Z

The United Nations national economist, Dr Ayodele Odusola, recently at the United Nations information center, said that Nigeria is one of the countries worse affected by maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. By definition, an infant is child below the age of one year.

He affirmed that Nigeria is yet to make appreciable progress towards achieving the Millennium Goals 4 and 5. Odusola stated that contrary to the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) of 91 out of 1000 live births recorded in 1990,the reference year for the MDGs, statistics has shown that the value worsened to 110 per 1000 live births in 2005. If the target for the IMR reduction were to be reached by 2015, the country would need to reduce the rate to less than 28 per 1000. It seems unlikely that this target would be achieved, which may further compound the problems relating to the reduction of under-five mortality.

Dr. Odusola stated that under-five mortality rate is another problem that calls for urgent intervention. According to the national average, one out of five children dies before it reaches the age of five. In rural areas it is even higher, with under-five mortality rates up to 25%.
This difference is attributed to neonatal rates, the probability of dying within the first month of life, which is higher in rural areas. This is due to unequal access to health facilities since urban residents are expected to have better access than rural residents.

The major challenges facing the country in its efforts to reduce child mortality include

Poverty, which manifests itself in various ways, including the fact that poor families can not afford appropriate treatment and medical supply at health facilities, especially when it involves referral cases requiring movement from one particular location to the other.

Poor access to health facilities, more pronounced in the rural areas as a result of insufficient health personnel, lack of adequate health care services and distance to the primary health care centers.

The problem of HIV/AIDS posing a threat to under five mortality as many women of childbearing age have the probability of transmitting HIV to their newborn babies. Furthermore, children who become orphans in their early years are at high risk of not reaching their fifth year, even if they are not HIV positive themselves.

He lamented the decline in the proportion of children immunized against measles saying the proportion slows down from 46% in 1990 to 31.4% in 2003 and then rose to 50% in 2004.

According to him, the available data on maternal mortality shows that the rate of deaths among mothers in pregnancy and childbirth remains at abysmally high level with 800 deaths out of 100, 000 live births in 2004 compared to the global target of less than 75.

“The proportion of births attended by trained health personnel worsened from 45% in 1990 to 36.3% in 2003 but improved to 44% in 2005 as against a target of not less than 60% by 2015” Odusola stated during his speech at the UNIC.
.
The number and timing of antenatal care visits can be a salient factor in preventing adverse pregnancy outcomes, but only about 47% of mothers made at least four antenatal care visits.

According to National Population Census 2000 , only about 37 % of the births were delivered in health facilities. It should be noted that lack of care is most life-threatening during childbirth and the days immediately after delivery, since these are the days when sudden complications ate most likely to arise.

Meanwhile, he urged both state and local governments to give more attention to primary health care services while also stating that Nigeria can only achieve MDG 4 and 5 if more attention is devoted to effective management of resources and improved allocation of resources.

Furtermore, he advocated for policy efforts aimed at promoting reforms in major health sectors. In addition, the National Health Insurance Scheme, Integrated Child Survival Intervention Programmes, and Expanded Programme on immunization should be fully implemented.

-Adesanmi Ayodele & Sofia Krauss

Northern-based journalists embedded in the “warfront”

2008-11-04T11:01:00.003Z

Kaduna, October 2008. Statistics on maternal, infant and child mortality show the situation in the north is far worse than in the southern parts of Nigeria. The maternal mortality rate in the north east (1549 in 100.000 life births) and the north west (1025 in 100.000) is more than five times as high as in the south west (165 in 100.000) . Hence, it is ever more necessary to raise public awareness on the grim condition of maternal health, the poor situation of many health facilities and the lack of accessibility to appropriate health care across Nigeria.

After the success of the first batch of Immersion Program Fellows, which reached its goal to educate a large number of journalists about maternal, newborn and child health issues, the project has been scaled up to train a new bunch of northern journalists. The approach looks at maternal mortality as a battlefield, in the same way war-reporters are embedded in the warfront, health reporters can be trained to be health experts in order to handle the complicated issues of health knowledgeably.

And who could fulfill this challenging task better than the media?

Seventeen journalists from all over the North were invited to a two-days orientation in the historical setting of Arewa House, Kaduna, and given the opportunity to be tutored by experts on health issues thereby increasing their reporting skills to create stories that directly affect the reader. Unfortunately, two of them had to be expelled due to lack of commitment. The first day was dedicated to information gathering, whereas the second day focused on the translation of the mere information into a grasping story.

The invited presenters, amongst them Dr. Oladapo Shittu from the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology; Iyeme Efem, a health expert who spoke about Vaginal Fistulae; Augusta Akparanta-Emenogu, media specialist with ActionAID, Professor Emmanuel Otolorin from Access Project, Ms. Chinwe Onumonu from Pathfinder International and many other distinguished health professionals delivered informative presentations and never hesitated to engage themselves afterwards in discussions with the journalists. The participants had the opportunity to interview the experts and get exclusives voices for their health broadcasts.
It was pointed out, that the Millennium Development Goals 4 & 5, which focus on maternal and child health, are still out of reach and could only be advanced by huge improvements of the health sector. Participants advocated for the abolition of user fees for pregnant women and children under five; increased number of skilled birth attendants; improved access to health services especially in rural areas; implementation of a national health insurance .

It was noted that one player, be it the government or anybody else, can never reach these targets on its own. What Nigeria needs is a multi-sectoral partnership between a government which is committed to health policy, professional organizations keeping track of the spending of funds, an active civil society demanding their rights to access high-quality health care and last, but not least an investigative media environment, passing on information to every household and as a watchdog to the government of its promise

Budget tracking to ensure that funds allocated to health reach the communities is one more essential aspect of critical journalism.
The aim of this workshop was to train the journalists to live up to the desired change towards establishing a critical and investigative media environment, which can translate medical information and especially medical vocabulary into a language comprehensible to the lay audience. As Iyeme Efem put it in words, stressing the responsibility of the media :

“A responsible media person first learns about the issues, then highlights the issues and thereby generates dialogue between health providers and “consumers”, maintains the issues on the front burner and advocates for the voiceless and marginalized.”

Journalism is not only about reporting daily news, there must be a commitment to follow up with policy makers and continuously reminding them of the unsolved problems.

Only after the issue is resolved, the journalist’s job is done.

“Broken Promises”: Accounting for high maternal mortality in Nigeria

2008-09-25T16:37:00.002Z

“Broken Promises”: Accounting for high maternal mortality in Nigeria

Maternal mortality in Nigeria is second only to that of India. Every ten minutes we lose a mother in the process of giving life or childbirth-related diseases. The Nigerian government identified maternal mortality as a pressing problem and developed laws and policies in order to respond to it, but all these actions have not led to a significant improvement in maternal health throughout the country yet.
In spite of the actions taken so far, especially those in developing new policies and signing international treaties, the annual number of women dying during pregnancy, labor and shortly afterwards is shockingly high (approximately 59.000) and has shown no decrease at all. If you break that number down, it means that a woman in Nigeria has a 1-in-18 risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes during her lifetime.
To attract more attention to this unacceptable high number of needless deaths, The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) and the Women Advocates Resource and Documentation Centre (WARDC) launched a new report on the condition of maternal health in Nigeria. Its main objective is targeted at unmasking the role of the government in every single maternal death and stressing its responsibility to guarantee the implementation of international health standards and human rights.
“Broken Promises-Human Rights, Accountability, and Maternal Death in Nigeria‘’ connotes that, despite the undeniable high rate of maternal mortality in the country and the promises made by the political establishment to address it, the results of the government’s initiatives are almost invisible. Blamed for that poor outcome are failures in health-care financing, leadership and governance. Some of them are obvious, for example systemic corruption which swallows huge amounts of money meant to improve health care facilities. Others are often over-looked as for example the lack of political will to address maternal mortality or the absence of gender-responsive budgeting. Furthermore, lack of implementation of laws and policies, inadequacy of counteractions, weak infrastructure, ineffective health services and lack of access to skilled health-care providers are highlighted.
The separation of responsibilities between the federal-, state- and local authorities is liable for the missing control over the cost and effectiveness of health services. As a conclusion : The government failed to fulfill its duties.
The book presents a focused analysis of the mistakes that have been made in the past and the financial and institutional barriers which prevent a better maternal health care in Nigeria. The financial aspects contain user fees in health facilities ( In Nigeria, there is evidence that maternal deaths increased by 56% and hospital deliveries fell by 46% after user fees were introduced) and lack of capacity to sustain free services, especially in terms of medication and inadequate staffing.
The infrastructural barriers concentrate on the locations of the health-care centers which are often very hard to reach for women in rural areas, long waiting periods and negative attitudes of overworked and underpaid medical staff. Some health facilities are even closed on weekends and only 18.5% of all health facilities in Nigeria meet the international standards for emergency obstetric care.
Another issue drawn up by the report is the low rate of contraceptive use in Nigeria: Only 11.6% of sexually active adults use modern contraceptive methods. The lack of availability, affordability and information discourages the average Nigerian from utilizing birth control, which manifests in a high occurrence of unplanned pregnancies. About half of these unwanted pregnancies are terminated which leads to one more crucial contributor to maternal mortality: Unsafe abortion. An estimated number of 456.000 unsafe abortions are executed every year in this country and about 34.000 women die from the consequences. The sixth periodic Report of Nigeria to the CEDAW Committee states: “Of the main causes of maternal mortality, unsafe abortion is the single most preventable cause of death”.
In the end some possible strategies to help overcoming the dire present situation are drawn up: It is essential to strengthen the framework of human rights, develop accountability mechanisms to prevent corruption, improve access to family planning services, remove financial barriers and establish a better infrastructural system if Nigeria really want to reduce the maternal mortality rate.
The report is based on field research undertaken between October 2007 and May 2008 by the Center of Reproductive Rights, as well as desk research by means of literature review of research publications (like WHO reports, journals and documentary analysis) and national demographic and health surveys. Over sixty persons were interviewed in order to get as much opinions on the condition of maternal health care as possible. All the statistics and numbers in the report are highly up to date, thus it provides greatly useful material for every journalist reporting on health care and everybody concerned with health issues in general.

--Sofia Krautz

Time to turn donors' words on aid effectiveness into action

2008-09-05T10:42:00.002Z

Tortuous negotiations end with some important steps on predictability, use of country systems and aid transparency, but much remains to be done.

After tortuous negotiations at the just concluded 3rd high level forum on aid effectiveness in Africa taking place in Accra, ministers from developed and developing countries have greed on some important steps to improve aid effectiveness.

"There is a growing consensus about what we need to do to make aid more effective. The task is to do it," said Oliver Buston from ONE. "Each donor country should produce a plan to implement this agenda immediately."

For developing countries, the Accra Agenda for Action on aid effectiveness (AAA) should provide more opportunity to hold donors accountable at country level, although lack of clear delivery dates for many reforms leaves much work to be done.

Progress made in Accra includes:
• Predictability: Donors have agreed, from now, to provide regular and timely information on 3-5 year expenditure and implementation plans that developing countries can integrate in their medium term planning and macroeconomic frameworks.
• Use of Country Systems: Donors have made specific commitments to use developing countries' own systems for delivering aid. Donors have also agreed to align their monitoring of aid flows and results with country information systems to make it much easier to compare and evaluate results.
• Aid transparency: Donors have agreed to make aid more transparent, reinforced by the launch of the International Aid Transparency Initiative.

In addition to these measures, donors have acknowledged the problem of donor 'orphans' and 'darlings'. Recipient countries will also be included in existing donor review mechanisms.

In the USA, the presidential election provides an exciting window of opportunity to make the delivery of American aid as effective as possible. There is already a rich debate both inside and outside the government about this issue and ONE intends to play its part.

About ONE

ONE is a global advocacy and campaigning organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty around the globe, with a special focus on Africa. ONE is backed by 2.4 million people from all around the world. www.ONE.org

How Abacha family stalled bid to recover looted funds ---- Swiss envoy

2008-09-04T15:09:00.003Z

Swiss Ambassador to Ghana Mr. Nicolas Lang yesterday narrated how the family of the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, stalled moves by the Swiss government to repatriate looted funds found in some Swiss’ bank accounts to Nigeria.

The late Abacha was reputed to have filched from the public treasury about $3 billion stashed in foreign accounts.

Lang said during a media roundtable forum in Accra, which was facilitated by Media21, a global network of journalists based in Geneva, that the family of the late Abacha employed lawyers to stonewall efforts to repatriate the looted funds.

"It was a serious case because the Abacha family used the Swiss legal system. They used every single means to prevent the Swiss from repatriating the money but at the end, the state tribunal had to put its foot down. The money has been repatriated completely," he added.

Lang said the Swiss government, in collaboration with the World Bank and the Ministry of Finance in Nigeria set out modalities to determine how the recovered loot would be spent.

On the chances of foreigners using Swiss’ banks to hide looted funds, he expressed confidence that the government had put up a regulatory framework to stop illicit money from getting into its system.

Earlier, Swiss Minister of Finance,Mr. Martin Dahinde, said the government was supporting developing countries by providing counterpart funding to assist in building capacity at various levels.

Although Nigeria is not among the beneficiaries of its programme, other countries, such as Mali, Tanzania, Burkina Faso and South Africa have received over 40 percent of total grant to developing countries.

* By Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, Accra

Devcoms Network, Nigeria wins prestigious ONE Africa Award 2008 for outstanding contributions towards achieving the MDGs

2008-09-02T08:20:00.008Z

L-R Immersion Fellows: Alex Abutu, Yusuf Ibrahim, Akin Jimoh (Program Director,Devcoms Network Nigeria) and Onche Odeh at the Award Ceremony in Accra Ghana

The ONE Campaign is delighted to announce that Development Communications (Devcoms)Network is the winner of the 2008 ONE Africa Award.

Devcoms Network was awarded the prize of $100,000 for their work with the media in Nigeria, training and sensitizing journalists and editors to public health care issues, especially for women and children.

This is the first annual ONE Africa Award, which has been created to honour outstanding contributions by Africans towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Reducing child and maternal mortality are the fourth and fifth Millennium Development Goals, but are the ones where least progress has been made,especially in Africa.

Devcoms’ work, sensitising and immersing reporters in public health issues has seen a 15% rise in media coverage of maternal and child health in Nigeria. They also provide media support to advocacy efforts for free maternal and child health care across the country.

“This was a very difficult decision”, said Oliver Buston from ONE. “Devcoms was selected because they are innovative, have demonstrated a strong positive effect in working towards improved health care for women and children, and also to ensure MDG funding in Nigeria is properly monitored. We were also impressed by their plans to scale up their programmes.”

The award was announced at the CSO Parallel Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, where transparency has been a recurring theme.

“There are very strong links between transparency, good information, and development,” said Buston. “Greater transparency is the first step to more effective aid. Transparency allows donors to coordinate, it allows African governments to plan properly and it empowers citizens to hold their governments to account. Devcoms’ work with the media is making impressive headway in this critical part of the development picture. We are delighted that they are the first winners of the ONE Africa Award.”

Devcoms Network Programme Director Akin Jimoh received the award in Accra. “This is a great opportunity to expand our scope of service to the women and children of Africa,” said Jimoh. “We believe the silent sighs of our women and children have to stop. We will equip our media to track the huge resources budgeted for MDGs 4 and 5, as well as other issues, from allocation to implementation.”

We particularly appreciate the recognition given to media work by our NGO partners, especially the Core Technical Committee and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in Nigeria.”

www.ONE.org

ONE is a global advocacy and campaigning organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty around the globe, with a special focus on Africa. ONE is backed by 2.4 million people from all around the world.

ONE contacts in Accra

Katy Cronin, Media Manager
UK mobile + 44 7788 710 789
Ghana mobile 0240 249593
Email katy.cronin@one.org

Oliver Buston, Europe Director
UK mobile +44 7963 288 446
Email oliver.buston@one.org

Akin Jimoh, Development Communications Network
Ghana Mobile 0240261474
Nigeria Mobile +234 803 3053 713
ajimoh@devcomsnetwork.org

No effective aid comes in Sierra Leone…says Action Aid Director

2008-09-01T13:04:00.002Z

The Country Director of Action Aid in Sierra Leone, Mr. Tennyson Williams, has said that more than half of the developmental aid coming to the West African states of Sierra Leone is fake and is an illusion made up to address poverty.

Mr. Williams exposed this development aid issue at a seminar held in the capital Freetown recently, adding that development priorities have changed as people are no longer talking about good roads, water and sanitation in the country.

“We should now be thinking of fighting poverty by creating wealth and not fighting poverty by creating poverty,” he pointed out.

In his address on the Paris Declaration which Sierra Leone and many other countries signed so as to improve on how aid was being spent to reduce poverty, Mr. Williams observed that one of the problems affecting the Paris Declaration was that 40 percent of donor funds are spent on administration costs.

He continued that another problem with the Paris Declaration was that donors should follow the country’s agenda; this he said should be in alignment with the priority of the country, not what the donor wants.

Mr. Williams further stated that partners were mutually accountable and that it should be a two way process, and that developing nations should be in the lead. He stressed that donors always plan the giant, as there is no harmonization between partners.

“We are putting pressure on our donors, we the people also need to do something because we don’t have anything to offer to their donor,” Mr. Williams said.

As the donors are preparing for the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, Ghana, the country director urged the country’s delegation to be ready to push effectiveness of aid, and that they should not hide behind Ghana, “as aid should not be given for the sake of aid but it should be effective.”

In his presentation on aid effectiveness, a consultant at Action aid Sierra Leone 5 unit Bagree, said that aid was in support of the social and economic development of poor countries to eradicate poverty.

“The effectiveness of aid should lead the people out of poverty and suffering but not to plunge the receipting into more constraints,” he disclosed.

In his contribution, the chairman of the Civil Society Movement of Sierra Leone (CSMSL), Mr. Festus Minah, said that the seminar was a step in the right direction as it has not only helped to illustrate the parameters of aid effectiveness, but will also assist in preparing the country delegation to the third high level forum in the Ghanaian capital Accra.

* By Bai-Bai SESAY
Freetown-Sierra Leone

Culled from www.media21geneva.org

Aids fails to reduce poverty and inequality in Africa

2008-09-01T11:49:00.003Z

The third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness opened today Accra with civil society organizations (CSOs) saying that aid to developing countries has failed to reduce poverty and inequality.

In an opening remark, Ms Cecilla Alemany, Manager, Influencing Development Actors and Practice for Women Rights said that aid had continued to meet donor’s own foreign and economic policy interest.

``Aid can help to lift people out of poverty and help them to realize their human rights but this is not the case with donors,’’ she said.

Alemany said that aid, however, was not working for poor people as it was used to serve the interest of the rich and powerful.

``We know why much aid does not work for poor people. But action by both donors and recipients to change their policies and practice is shamefully slow,’’ she said.

She also said that donor governments and agencies have failed to recognize the role of civil society organizations (CSOs) in aid effectiveness. ``The roles assumed by CSOs are not substitutes for government obligations to meet their responsibilities for their citizens.

``CSOs are development actors in their own rights, rooted in organization of citizens to claim rights and hold governments and donors to account,’’ she added.

She said that CSOs must be giving full play to hold donors and government to account for implementing aid effectiveness principles.

* By Alex Abutu
Immersion Fellow

Tracking the effectiveness of aid in Africa

2008-09-01T09:18:00.005Z

Immersion fellow; Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, spotlights the agenda of the conference on aid effectiveness in Africa, which opened today in Accra, Ghana

With few exceptions, many countries in the continent of Africa pine under the yoke of poverty such that they relish the handouts from donor-nations and other institutions who are magnanimous enough to part with a penny here, a nickle there.

The situation is so pathetic that most of these affected countries cannot imagine surviving a day if the donors fail to honour their pledges to them as and when due.
On the other hand however, there is the unending contention of whether aids and grants from these donor-agencies have translated to improved standard of living for the people of Africa. Critics have particularly argued that aid to Africa has been largely wasted through corruption by a callous system.

The foregoing issues are part of the agenda of the proposed Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Africa which begins today Monday, September 1, 2008 in Accra, Ghana to end Friday, September 5th, 2008.

The conference which is being hosted by the government of Ghana will be attended by ministers from over 100 countries; heads of bilateral and multilateral development agencies, donor organisations and civil society organisations from around the world.
Their common objective is to help developing countries and marginalized people in their fight against poverty by making aid more transparent, accountable and result oriented.

Specifically, the Third High Level Forum in Aid Effectiveness will seek to review progress improving aid effectiveness, broaden the dialogue to newer actors, chart a course from international action on aid effectiveness, among others.
Besides, ministers and agency heads are expected to consider and endorse the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) to deepen implementation of the Paris declaration and respond to emerging aid effectiveness issues.

The AAA has been drafted through a broad-based process of dialogue at both country and international levels, carried out through the work of WP – EFF and its joint ventures, regional preparatory consultations with the various partner countries.

The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness which predates the Accra Agenda for Action expresses the international community’s convention on the direction for reforming aid delivery and management to achieve improved effectiveness and results.

The Paris Declaration which is grounded on five mutually reinforcing principles namely, ownership, alignment harmonization, managing for results and mutual accountability suggests ways by which countries can exercise effective leadership over their development policies and strategies and coordinate development actions.

The conference, according to the organizers promises to be intellectually engaging judging by the caliber of brainstorming sessions and different levels of interfaces to be held.

* By Ibrahim Yusuf

Immersion Fellows set out for 3rd High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness

2008-08-28T10:55:00.003Z

Three Devcoms Network Immersion fellows: Yusuf Ibrahim of The Nations Newspaper, Mr. Onche Odeh of the Daily Independent Newspaper both in Lagos Nigeria and Alex Abutu of the News Agency of Nigeria Abuja are among the eleven international journalists participating at the upcoming 3rd High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness taking place in Accra Ghana.

While in Ghana, the three Immersion fellows will be receiving on-the-spot mentoring form a mentor of the program.

Ministers from over 100 countries, heads of bilateral and multilateral development agencies, donor organizations, and civil society organizations from around the world are gathering or the three day meeting to deliberate on helping the developing countries and marginalized people in their fight against poverty by making aid more transparent, accountable and results-oriented.

Recently, critiques of the impact of aid have become more vociferous as the global campaigns to increase aid have gained momentum, particularly since 2000. Many people argue that aid is never effective but believe that aid will achieve significant impact when properly directed and managed, particularly in areas such as health and basic education.

Aids is only one factor in the complex process needed for poor countries to develop, as such effective economic growth, good governance transparency in budgeting and spendings are to be advocated and assured. There is an urgent need for the adoption of a democratic, instead of institutional system in the process of aid effectiveness that would include the participation of all stakeholders and the broader masses, if real transformational change would occur.

This meeting would build the capacity of journalists to act as watchdogs to ensure that governments are committed to be transparent in the utilization of aids and live up to their political commitment. Messers Yush, Onche and Abutu --Devcoms Network fellows --are part of the core group of Nigerian health reporters being immersed in organizations across Nigeria to effect the media advocacy for better Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in Nigeria.

The 3rd High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness intends to:
• review progress in improving aid effectiveness
• broaden the dialogue to newer actors
• chart a course for continuing international action on aid effectiveness

The official forum website: www.accrahlf.net

* By Nnenna Ike

Addressing Gender Equality: A Persistent Challenge for Africa

2008-08-25T16:25:00.001Z

The issue of women and children and how they fare will be the topic of the high-powered Conference of Ministers of Gender and Women’s Affairs jointly organized by the African Union and the United National Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) kicks off today Monday 25, August 2008 with a two-day meeting of the Committee of Experts. The Ministerial segment of the Conference will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 28 to 29 August 2008.

The major agenda item of the Conference is the discussion and adoption of the AU Gender Policy a coherent strategy for the achievement of gender equality and the advancement of women on the continent. The Plan of Action for the effective implementation of this Gender Policy will also be reviewed and endorsed.

The Conference will review the preparatory process for the Beijing +15 regional review due to take place on the African continent in 2009 and in 2010 at the global level. The Conference will also take stock of progress achieved in the implementation of the AU Heads of State Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (SDGEA) and debate on how to effectively use the African Gender and Development Index.

Given the alarming and persistent violation of the human rights of women across the Continent, the Conference plans to discuss and recommend a strategy for adopting a multi-sectoral approach to fast track the implementation of commitments on women’s rights. To address this critical issue, the Economic Commission fort Africa and the United Nations Development Program, Regional Gender Program (UNDP/RGPA will be launching the African Women’s Rights Observatory.

This is an innovative project, aimed at following up the status of Women rights in Africa and creating a forum for knowledge and experience sharing among countries, institutions, partners and individuals who are involved in advocating for the promotion of women’s rights across the Continent.

Addressing experts today, Ms Thokozile Ruzvidzo, Officer in charge of the African Centre for Gender and Social Development says, “The pressing nature of the development challenges facing Africa including gender inequality made necessary for our continental institutions and other development partners to collaborate in order to harness resources, ensure coherence and avoid duplication,"

Likewise, the Conference is expected to discuss the establishment of the African Women Trust Fund. The African Development Forum (ADF) VI scheduled to take place in November 2008 in Addis Ababa is also on the agenda and options of making this major multi-stakeholder event a success will be deliberated.

In light of the upcoming review of the Paris Declaration, the Ministers of Gender and Women’s Affairs will reflect on the gender dimensions of aid modalities and development cooperation. Strengthening national women’s and gender machineries will also feature high on the agenda of the Conference as the momentum gathered during the Beijing Conference in 1995 seems to be on the wane.

The convening of this ministerial conference coincides with the renewal of the Bureau of ECA’s Committee on Women and Development, whose work and new mandate will be examined during the Conference.

Over 25 Ministers and 3 Deputy Ministers will attend the Conference, which is a collaboration between the Women, Gender and Development Directorate (WGDD) of the AU Commission, and the African Centre for Gender and Social Development (ACGS) of UNECA.

Participants also include over seventy five experts from gender ministries and resource persons, representatives of Regional Economic Communities and UN agencies, as well as African and international media.

*By Nnenna Ike

Oba Erediauwa commits to saving women’s lives

2008-08-12T09:16:00.003Z

Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Erediauwa CFR, the Oba of Benin, was in his element on the day a team of advocates came calling to solicit his support to stem the tide of the senseless deaths of Nigerian women and children. Displaying an indepth knowledge of key issues in traditions and the application of modern day science and public health, it did not take long for a royal consent to address the need of women and children in the Benin Kingdom and Nigeria in general.

The Omo N’ Oba Edo Uku Akpolokpolo added his weight behind the Partnership for Maternal Newborn and Child Health during an advocacy visit to the Palace in Benin. The Benin monarch who received the partnership comprising the Family Health Unit of the Federal ministry of health, developmental partners, International and Nigerian non-governmental organizations, and the media, was enjoined to speak about the health and lives of women and children more often. The partnership pointed out that when a high ranking monarch such as he talks, the society and political authorities are most likely to heed the call and act accordingly.

To His Royal Highness “Education is key, but we need to work at it from traditional perspectives too. People need to be educated to address maternal and infant mortality. Our culture is very dynamic, so people need to know the implications of their actions.” To this end, the Monarch ordered an inventory of the state of Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities in the seven local councils in the kingdom promising to do something, but the state and national assemblies need to do something for a holistic solution to stem the tide, he says.

Despite modernisation, Nigerians still hold certain traditional and cultural practises very well to heart. This has led to the continuation of cultural practises which are detrimental to the health of the people especially to women and children. Some of these practises include forced marriage, traumatic puberty initiation rites, gender based violence, wife inheritance, child marriage and widowhood rites. Religion also plays a very significant role in the lives of Nigerians with adherents obeying the opinions of their leaders despite laying claim to modernisation.

These, added to the patriarchal system of the Nigerian society, has led to reproductive/maternal health problems not being given priority consideration. Thus any strategy to address maternal and infant health need to take these influences into consideration.

Indeed monarchs and religious leaders in Nigeria are beginning to take more proactive roles in the advocacy for better Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH). This is because of the influential role they play in the lives of the people and the high esteem people have for traditions and culture in Nigeria.

Professor Friday Okonofua, the Convener of the Advocacy Panel supported by ENHANSE/USAID states that “the strategy is to meet with high ranking government officials, key traditional and religious leaders, and politicians and convince them on the need to place priority on reducing maternal and child mortality in Nigeria.”

*By Nnenna Ike

MP4 commended for championing the cause of women and children

2008-07-03T09:02:00.001Z

Media Partnership for Women and Children (MP4), a newsletter published by the Development Communications Network Lagos and the Nigerian media practitioners have been commended for the recent rise in the frequency and quality of media reports on the need to have better maternal, newborn and child health in Nigeria.

Making this commendation at the just concluded review of the national policy on the elimination of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and plan of Action in Jos, Plateau state, Dr Sola Odujinrin RH Advisor for the World Health Organisation in Nigeria, stated that the achievement of the MDG 4 and 5 lies on the hands of the people.

“If the media would concentrate and continue to educate the people on their health and enlighten policy makers on the health realities and the need for better and workable policies, then there is hope in attaining a level of the health goals set up in the MDG.”

“The media is doing well through the MP4 and all the other activities we have noted so far but there are still other areas to be highlighted. Areas such as FGM and the issues surrounding its practice,” she intoned.

Corroborating with the WHO stand, Mrs. Stella Akinso, who represented the country director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Director in Nigeria, Sidiki Coulibaly, stated that the MP4 has gained readership amongst many policy makers in Nigeria and the global audience through the internet.

According to her, “We believe the media has a lot of influence and would seize every window of opportunity to collaborate with them so that there would be a re-orientation of the general mindset towards practices that are inimical to the health of people especially women and children; practices like the FGM.”

* By Nnenna Ike

Nigeria Needs N55b to Reduce Maternal Mortality-Expert

2008-07-03T09:00:00.001Z

With about N55 billion, Nigeria would be able to reduce the number of women dying from pregnancy related causes to as low as 200 per 100, 000 live births, Nigeria Director of Ipas, a body dedicated to reproductive health, Dr. Ejike Oji, has said.

The figure according to Oji could be spread across a period of five years on various strategies but with particular emphasis on remuneration and mobilization of skilled reproductive health personnel deployed to the rural areas.

The Ipas director, in an analogy based on the model used by the Kano state government for its free maternal services, showed that if each state concedes to dedicating not less than N9 million per month to maternal health services, then all states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) would have spent N3.3 billion on such services within 12 months.

The Kano state model targets 200 midwives and nurses who will be paid a N50,000 monthly remuneration in addition to a N25, 000 monthly rural allowance.
“If this is to be replicated in all 36 states and FCT, we will have an average annual spending of N6.3 billion and in addition to other costs, this will amount to about N11 billion including cost of monitoring and evaluation,” Oji said in an interview at Abuja.
“Over 5 years, about N55 billion would have been spent on maternal health but the good would be that the mortality ratio would have reduce to 200 per 100, 000 live births.”

Citing the result of a 2004 survey of urban health facilities in Lagos and Kano state by the Society for Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Nigeria (SOGON), Oji estimates that the average number of women that die annually from pregnancy and childbirth related causes in Nigeria could not be less than 3700. This is the average for the figures obtained at the Lagos Island Maternity Hospital and the Murtala Mohammed Hospital in Kano.

A break down of the figure as disclosed by Oji shows that 3900 maternal deaths are recorded at the Murtala Mohammed Hospital in Kano per 100,000 live births. The figure for Lagos Island Maternity Hospital shows that an estimated 3,455 women die from complications arising from childbirths and pregnancies per 100, 000 live births.

Figures released by Dr. Mairo Mandara Senior Country Advisor, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, at the at the third Religious Leaders Consultative Forum organized by the Federal Ministry of Health holding in Abuja shows that Nigeria accounts for 8993 (1.7 percent) of the estimated 529,000 maternal deaths recorded globally every year.

She also pointed out that “for every women who loses her life, approximately 20 more will suffer short and long term disabilities such as chronic anaemia, maternal exhaustion, Vesico-Vaginal or recto-vaginal fistulae, Pelvic Inflamatory Diseases, emotional depressions among others.”

She puts the national average for maternal deaths in Nigeria at 1000 per 100,000 live births.

* By Onche Odeh

FGC elimination: A veritable means of reducing maternal and perinatal deaths

2008-07-02T12:15:00.004Z

Group deliberation on the FGC policy by national stakeholders

Though it has not been duly recognized in recent times, Female Genital Cutting(FGC) has been knowledged to be one of the causes of perinatal and maternal morbidity and mortality in Nigeria. Since it is widely practiced in Nigeria, all efforts must be made to ensure the elimination of this practice to help reduce the number of women who die from the complication of FGC at childbirth.

This assertion was made last week at the meeting organized by the Federal ministry of Health in Jos Plateau with sponsorship from the UNICEF, UNFPA and the WHO.

Mrs Stella Akinso, representing the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Director in Nigeria, Sidiki Coulibaly, in her opening speech to the stakeholders lamented the high maternal morbidity and mortality rates in Africa and Nigeria especially.

Her words, “The perinatal mortality occasioned by FGC is quite high in Nigeria similarly the maternal mortality due to other childbirth-related causes. So anything that would help Nigeria in the achievement of the MDG 4 and 5 is welcome and must be coordinated such that different body and agency would work effectively towards their achievement. We can achieve the goals through the effective roll-out and implementation of the IMNCH strategy, through family planning programmes, and the FGC elimination programmes. These are all targeted at ensuring that the lives of women and children are safe-guarded and improved by 2015.”

According to her “we have brought all stakeholders who we know are working in the field of FGC and have the expertise in all the issues surrounding the practice of FGM in Nigeria. We are held to review the policy, make amendments such that at the end of this meeting, we would have a document that is practical and implement-able in Nigeria. If by the end of 2015, we can not get a zero level of FGC practice, at least we would been able to achieve 80% of FGC elimination.”

As a means of making the policy more workable, Akinso stated that there is a need to have a national legislation on the eradication of FGC. “Right now, we have state laws in about 11 states out of the 36 in Nigeria and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. What we need is to convince people to change their minds about this practice that is inimical to the health and lives of women in our country. This, we hope would be captured in the policy and the plan of action being developed at this meeting”, she intoned.

* By Nnenna Ike

Minister Tasks Religious Leaders On Maternal, Child Mortality

2008-07-02T10:40:00.000Z

Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Acting minister of health, Dr. Hassan Muhammad has urged religious leaders across the country to drive Nigeria’s quest to reduce the abysmally high maternal and child deaths in the country.

The minister gave this charge on Tuesday, at the opening session of the third Religious Leaders Consultative Forum organized by the Federal Ministry of Health holding in Abuja Nigeria. An interfaith forum is to be formed at the end of the Abuja meeting on Wednesday.

This forum, which is sequel to two previous editions held in 2005 and 2006 would look at recommendations on how faith based organizations could be used to address the problem of maternal and child mortality in Nigeria.

“This forum will serve as an advisory committee on maternal and child mortality situation in Nigeria and relate with the government in design, implementation and monitoring of all health care policies and interventions,” the minister said.

Hassan identified the Christian and Muslim faiths as two religious bodies that make serious impressions on their subjects, hence a veritable tool for addressing the problem of maternal and child mortalities.

The minister took a swipe at religious leaders who inadvertently spread misleading messages among their subjects about certain measures meant to curb the high maternal and child deaths in Nigeria. According to him such messages, when heeded to, left the subjects in worse health conditions as is the case with the survival of the child and the mother.

He cited the rejection of immunization in some parts of the country as an unfortunate scenario resulting from misleading messages from some religious leaders thereby causing the number of women dying from causes related to child births to be on the high. This he said has also caused many children to die as well.

Hassan related the low level of immunization and use of modern family methods to erroneous religious beliefs and said people who spread such messages are not being true to the dictates of their respective religions.

“In the middle whole of Saudi Arabia, where Prophet Mohammed was born, Iran, and other Islamic countries of repute, there is no polio. This is because they abide by immunization as a means of enhancing child survival, yet some people say it is irreligious to come out for immunization,” he said.

Similarly, Nigeria Director of Ipas, an organization dedicated to promoting reproductive health, Dr. Ejike Oji, stated that churches in Nigeria are also contributing to the spate of high deaths from child births.

Ejike, who spoke at the forum, noted that many pastors have taken over the duties of obstetricians and gynecologists, despite lacking the expertise and trainings to handle childbirth and its related conditions.

“Churches and pastors are taking over the role of obstetricians and gynecologists. They now deliver so many women of their babies without referring to trained services. This must be checked,” Oji said in an address he acknowledged was intended to elicit actions from the minister.

Meanwhile, the minister has said the ongoing forum is intended to use religious leaders as very influential tools in the society to reduce the incidence of maternal and child deaths in Nigeria.

* By Onche Odeh

NiNPREH partners The Nation on safe motherhood

2008-06-23T18:26:00.000Z

Government has been urged to wave off delivery fees totally in its hospitals in order to make motherhood safer in Nigeria
This was made known by members of Nigeria Network of NGOs and CSOs for Population and Reproductive Health (NiNPREH), Lagos branch during a courtesy visit to The Nation Newspapers last Tuesday

Speaking on the theme of this year’s Motherhood Day "Stopping deaths of mothers and new born babies ‘Fate in the hands of unskilled care givers," the State Convener, NiNPREH, Deacon Sunday Solanke said ignorance and poverty are the major factors that lead to malnutrition which is contributing to the death of about 60 percent of all mothers and children. He said "NiNPREH is advocating for more attention to be given to safe motherhood, as it affects a large population, especially the poor population".

He speaks further: "We observed that though many people have the opportunity to use the facility and have their babies delivered free of charge, but just only 60 percent of the people take advantage of this and we see some people going to faith homes to deliver because of poverty".

Welcoming the team on behalf of Staff and Management of Vintage Press, Publishers of The Nation Newspapers, The Editor, The Nation on Sunday, Mr Lekan Otufodunrin, urged the team to partner with the media so that their work will be promoted and appreciated. "There is need for you to focus on issues that need to be promoted so as to enjoy more prominence from the media", he said.

In her own speech, the Auditor of NiNPREH, Mrs Grace Hygie Enwerem said the main objectives of NiNPREH are: To empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development; to promote an understanding that communities are key to changing attitudes towards issues; and advocate partnership, which will ensure all agencies, stake holders and people to enjoy a safer and more prosperous future.

She added that the group aims at recognising the achievements, addressing the challenges and getting back on track to achieve the millennium development goals and also concentrating on the reduction of child mortality and improving maternal health.

By Niyi Odunmorayo

Mutant Mosquitoes, but what of ITNs, IRS?

2008-06-20T15:21:00.000Z

Mutant Mosquitoes, but what of ITNs, IRS?

Malaria does not always capture the interest of the press, but for the last two days stories have appeared in a wide variety of sources about experiments to modify the DNA of mosquitoes to make them less able to transmit malaria. If eradication is to happen, new tools are needed. Consequently, Time Magazine reports that, “Faced with a losing battle against malaria, scientists are increasingly exploring new avenues that might have seemed far-fetched just a few years ago.”

Some have doubts about the potential of ITNs. An Associated Press story in the Baltimore Sun indicated that while “the United Nations recently announced a campaign to provide bed nets to anyone who needs them by 2010. Some scientists think creating mutant mosquitoes resistant to the disease might work better.”

ABC News quotes Jo Lines of the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene who raises some doubts. “It’s a series of arms races that the parasite has consistently won. Whenever mosquitoes have developed genes resistant to the malaria-causing parasite, the parasite has always found a way around it, Lines said. Quantity might also be a problem. You are going to need to produce billions of these mosquitoes if this is ever going to work.”

The AP also talked with scientists who expressed concerns about the environmental consequences of modifying organisms and who worried about ‘fooling mother nature.’

malaria-vector-map-sm.gifClearly this is not a technology that can be implemented over night. There are numerous species of Anopheles mosquitoes that carry malaria. (see map from Kiszewksi et al.) And then too, we have several Plasmodium species to worry about. Mosquitoes have different feeding preferences (animals, humans), and although not every mosquito is an efficient malaria vector for human malaria, mosquitoes have been known to change their behavior and feeding preferences.

Interestingly, in areas where the mosquitoes still exist, but the parasite has been eliminated, genetic modification may be a way to get a head start to prevent the reintroduction of malaria. This approach might also be an answer to the continual problem of insecticide resistance.

So far we have no one magic bullet of an intervention to eliminate malaria. Should we now also include mutant mosquitoes in the mix?

Bill Brieger | 20 Jun 2008
CULLED WITH PERMISSION FROM http://www.malariafreefuture.org/blog/

NIREC meets, calls for acceleration for the attainment of MDGs 4 and 5

2008-05-15T13:53:00.000Z

The quarterly meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) ended last week with the council urging the governments, groups and all Nigerians, particularly the Faith-based Organizations to build a systematic platform for peace and religious harmony in Nigeria through the promotion of socio-economic justice, transparency and good governance.

This, according to the council, this would help to accelerate the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals MDGs for reducing maternal mortality and promoting child survival.

This was part of the resolution from the meeting at the Maiduguri International Hotel, which held from May 4th to 7th 2008, under the Co-Chairmanship of the Sultan of Sokoto, who is also the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar CFR; and the President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), His Grace Archbishop John Onaiyekan, (CON).

The council asserted that in spite of its human and material resources, Nigeria’s maternal and child morbidity and mortality rate are some of the highest in the world. It appealed to all citizens to support the government’s campaign for eradication of polio and other childhood diseases by accepting immunization. This is one of the cost-effective interventions under the integrated maternal, newborn and child health strategy of the federal ministry of health aimed at reducing the maternal and child mortality.

The council stated that pervasive poverty, denial of basic amenities, insecurity and collapse of infrastructure are some of the sources maternal and child mortality. It urged the government to increase the tempo of sustainable measures for the eradication of poverty through job and wealth creation which will channel the energies of our youths towards productive ventures.

The council acknowledged that HIV/AIDS has added to the country’s disease burden and that Nigerian youths who are the country’s hope constitute the most vulnerable group of those infected. It called on Faith-based Organizations to educate their members on the tenets and injunctions of their religion to limit the spread of HIV/AIDS and reduce the high number.

By Nnenna Ike

CHIEF commends Media advocacy for MNCH

2008-05-05T10:07:00.000Z

The Health Journalist Immersion Project for the media advocacy for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) has been described as one of the most effective means for ensuring the improvement and implementation of all health policies especially those that relate to women and children. This assessment was made by Mrs. Remi Akinmade, Executive Director of Community Health Information Education Forum (CHIEF), a non-governmental Organization during a courtesy visit made by Devcoms to their office in Lekki, Lagos.

According to her, health mortality and morbidity rates have remained high in Nigeria largely due to ignorance. There is an urgent need to bring health information education communication to the doorsteps of individuals, families and communities. This is the point where concerted efforts by grassroot organizations such as CHIEF, in active partnership with journalists would reveal the health realities so as to educate the public. This would also ensure that policy makers know exactly where there are gaps in policy implementation and practices that would ameliorate them.

She stated that correct information is vital as it has saved the lives of many community women, especially when it was difficult for them to access health care services. Through proper information, they know how to take better care of themselves and their children, understand the need to attend ante-natal clinics, and know when it becomes imperative that they access healthcare.

She urged other organizations to partner with Devcoms to bring about the needed change in the implementation of maternal, newborn and child health policies in Nigeria. Akinmade urged the media not to relent in the effort at drawing attention to the inadequacies in our health care system especially as it concerns women and children who are, most times, the vulnerable and unvoiced segments of the society.

CHIEF is grass-root organization based in Lekki, Lagos whose vision is to promote grass-root health development, communication and care. Amongst their objective is to reduce maternal/infant morbidity and mortality rate through establishment of primary health clinics/outreach clinics and to promote home-based care in the community.

By Nnenna Ike

Talking and listening to youth a crucial step in preventing HIV and AIDS, unwanted pregnancy, and more

2008-04-29T14:04:00.000Z

Despite the advances in treatment, keeping the world’s nearly one billion young people from becoming infected with HIV in the first place represents the most realistic way to curb the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Many committed professionals have designed policies and programmes to help adolescents protect their sexual and reproductive health. Yet in doing so, they rarely ask themselves whether they listen to young people first.

Guttmacher Institute and nine partner organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa embarked on a research study to find out whether the next generation is well protected. The study reveals that across Ghana, Malawi, Burkina Faso and Uganda young people cited fear, shame and embarrassment as their main reason for not going to health clinics and hospitals for sexual and reproductive health care, despite a stated preference for formal health services.

The years between ages 15-20 are marked by a tremendous shift in sexual behaviour, hence the need for young people to access reliable information and nonjudgmental interaction with adults. The study showed that parental monitoring of teenage activities (including their friends) is not of any use if they do not first talk to them about unsafe sex and its implications. One of the most intractable challenges is for adults to accept the reality that adolescents are or will soon be sexually active and therefore need information about how they can protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

By Ambia Hirsi
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation
ambiafize@yahoo.com

Protecting the next generation

2008-04-28T20:04:00.000Z

Photo Credit: David Colwell (c) 2008

Recommendations and policy implementation strategies resulting from the study done in four African countries on the realities of the sexual and reproductive health of young people were presented yesterday at the on-going ‘Youths Deliver the Future’conference.

According to the study titled "Protecting the next generation" carried out by the African Population and health Research Centre, in Uganda, Malawi, Ghana and Bukina Faso, many more young people are sexually aware, while the older ones are becoming sexually active before marriage.

As such, abstinence until marriage is not a message that resonates with many adolescents. When they have to seek sexual and reproductive health services, the study discovered that they prefer going to professional centres rather than family or community gatekeepers. Cost and embarrassment are major barriers to seeking services. Unintended pregnancy was found to be of more importance to adolescent females than HIV infection.

Mandatory sex education is advocated and this education should be started early, at least during the last two classes in primary schools. To ensure the effectiveness of this, there would be a need to insist on mandatory schooling for youths.

Religion plays an important part in the lives of youths and as such, there is a need to work with religious bodies to propagate the

The study recommended among others that:
• Programmes should accept the reality of adolescent sexuality and work to de-stigmatize sexual activity among older un-married adolescents.
• Make services for adolescent quite low, ensure confidentiality and non-judgmental services besides expanding health facilities to meet the needs of the most vulnerable youth
• Target journalists in outreach and new research studies, programme and policy initiatives
• Promote condoms for the prevention of pregnancy, and not only for HIV prevention.
• Promote services to cater for out-of –school youths.

By Nnenna Ike

Investing in Young People at 'Youth Deliver the Future' conference

2008-04-28T20:01:00.000Z

Photo Credit: David Colwell (c) 2008

African governments should urgently invest in programs that focus and enhance the health and development of young people says experts at the uniquely designed international conference on Young People's Health and Development that opened on Sunday in Abuja, Nigeria.

The three day conference brought together an assembly of researchers, academicians and policy makers in a series of interaction and knowledge sharing to promote and better prepare the youth for the new world.

The conference dubbed "Youth Deliver the Future" Investing in Young People's Health and Development: Research that Improves Policies and Programs, seeks to find solutions to various problems facing youth.

These problems include lack of access to education, health and information services, increased HIV infection and sexually transmitted diseases, early marriages, unintended pregnancies and death from unsafe abortions, drug abuse, mental illnesses, death in road crashes, and acquiring poor nutritional and exercise habits among others.

Speaking during the opening ceremony held at the Nicon Luxury Hotel in Abuja, Nigeria's First Lady Hajia Turai Umar Yar'Adua in a speech read on her behalf by the Minister of Health and Labour Dr Hassan Muhammad Lawal, said to reduce the risks young people are faced with and promote their positive development, nations and societies must invest in young people more than ever before.

The First Lady said young people hold the key to the future and the slogan of this conference, "Youth deliver the future" is therefore an apt one.

Mrs Yar Adua noted that the youth who will effectively deliver on the future is one that has been adequately prepared for the future and one in whom the society has sufficiently invested in to ensure maximal development and provide relevant opportunities to optimize his or her potential.

"Without proper development of young people there will be no future development anywhere" she emphasized.

She reiterated the need to optimize youth development investments through evidence-based policies and programs.

"Today the world has the largest number of young people ever recorded in history -approximately two billion people between the ages of 10 to 24, most of whom are in Africa and Asia, therefore the need to confront the challenges facing young people in various areas of development has never been greater".

She said the substantial increase in the number of young people globally presents more opportunities than challenges and added that equipping this energetic and technologically-minded group with the best of resources offers opportunity to move the world forward like never before. She said investing in youth will help the world achieve the Millenium Development Goals (MDG's).

She hoped the conference will enable the world to commit themselves to the new development of the future generation. She further reiterated her government's renewed commitment to the health and development of young people as evidenced by the recent launch of a new National Policy on Health and Development of Adolescents and other Young People in Nigeria, and increasing investment in related programmes.

Minister for Health and Labour Dr Hassan Muhammad Lawal said there is need to take all necessary measures to invest in young people's health and development so that Africa can enjoy the demographic bonus of this age group.

The conference is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health John Hopkins University in partnership with Centre for Population and Reproductive Health, University of Ibadan and Department of Community Health, Obafemi Awololo University.

By Redemtor Atieno
Kenya freelance journalist
ratieno@gmail.com

‘Youth are the best investment in the future of the nation’

2008-04-28T19:15:00.001Z

Dr. Lauri Laski, Head of Adolescents and Youth, UNFPA, talks about the positive impact that youth have on society at the 'Youth Deliver the Future' conference.

What did UNFPA bring to the ‘Youth Deliver the Future’ conference?

UNFPA brought young people from around the world to the conference. This is very important for the conference agenda. Young people are after all a dynamic force for social change, and can advocate on behalf of marginalized youths. This can achieve a lot. Internationally UNFPA sponsored five people, and in Nigeria we sponsored 47 people.

What are your impressions of the conference so far?

I think the conference is a great idea. It is the first international conference that focuses on adolescent health research with a focus on reproductive health. If we can learn from this conference and support the development of research on adolescents and convince investors to invest more in young people, it would be a great achievement. Youths are the best investment in the future of the nation, as they are healthy and fresh workers.

What do you feel should be the outcomes of the conference?

We need to look at the research agenda of the conference so that African universities can do operations research and evaluate their own adolescent health programs. This allows the universities to become self sufficient in evaluating their adolescent health programs. This is an opportunity for Africa—the number of youths is very large, and many are living in poverty. Building adolescent health programs is a way to break the string of poverty that has captured families for generations. We need to invest in the most vulnerable populations, particularly young girls. We need to ensure that girls are put into school and given lifelong skills to enter labour markets and boost the national economy. Look at China and South Korea—they are investing a lot in young people and it has made a positive impact there!

What knowledge should youth delegates take away from this conference?

Youth can learn about successful interventions and best practices for adolescent health programs. Our youth are great links between researchers and policy makers. They can communicate results of research and advocate for more funding for adolescent health programs within our government policies. They can pressure their governments to put more funds into poverty prevention plans and to build strategies and policies in support of adolescent development.

By Amanda Hale

Nations should take advantage of demographic dividends

2008-04-28T15:54:00.001Z

There is an expected increase in the population of young people globally, with many nations having a significantly higher number of people of the working age who would be mainly young people. With this in view, researchers are urging countries to strategize to use the demographic dividends that would accrue to their country.

This information was presented by Professor Amy Tsui of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health at a Pre-conference training for journalists attending the ‘Youth Deliver the Future Conference’. The Pre-conference training was organized by Population Reference Bureau (PRB).

According to her, African countries should try harder to ensure the judicious use of public resources to cater for the health of the people, especially youths and young people, who would make up the country’s workforce. Though every country has competing needs if adequate resources are put in place now, some of the health, education and poverty problems being encountered now due to the present demography of the nation would be alleviated.

To ensure that upcoming African economies reap the demographic dividend of their youthful generation, these strategies were advocated: increasing female enrollments and labour force participation, introducing changes in technology and institutions to raise agricultural productivity while increasing land conservation, developing and implementing a more effective family planning policy.

By Nnenna Ike

FG pledges to invest to optimize youth potentials

2008-04-28T15:51:00.000Z

The Youth Deliver the Future Conference 2008 holding at the Nicon Luxury Hotel Abuja opened yesterday with the representative of the Nigerian government reiterating its commitment to increasing and improving programmes for the actualization of the development of the youth in Nigeria.

In the opening speech, Dr Hassan Lawal, representing the First Lady and the Minister of Health and the minister of Labour said, ‘The path to a glorious future for our world and the achievement of our collective development vision as represented in the Millennium Development Goals lies in massively and strategically investing in young people’s development.’ According to him, the government of Nigeria’s commitment had been exemplified with the recent launch of the new ‘National Policy on the health and development of Adolescents and other young people in Nigeria’ and looks forward to the conference outcome.

Professor Oladosu Ojengbede, Chair of the National Steering committee of the conference stated that the conference was designed to assemble policy makers and researchers to present results of studies from around the globe which all aim at improving the environment for optimizing the great potentials of youths and young people. His words, ‘Youths make up about 40% of the nation’s population our youths, the poor reproductive health indicators of youths is unacceptable and a challenge to human intellect.’ The conference aims at deliberating and unveiling solutions and interventions that would promote adolescent health globally and in Nigeria.

While welcoming participants to the conference, Professor Amy Tsui, Chair of the International Steering Committee expressed the hope that the conference would bring about tremendous knowledge to help harness the investment that lie in the youth population of every nation.

Goodwill messages came from the Bill and Melinder Gates Foundation, World Bank, World Health Organization, Packard Foundation, UNFPA, USAID, youth ambassadors and other Development partners.

Photo Credit: David Colwell (c) 2008

By Nnenna Ike

Conference reveals the who, what, when, why and how of adolescent health programs

2008-04-28T11:10:00.000Z

International representatives from World Health Organization, World Bank, Youth Coalition, and United Nations Population Fund Agency spoke on the urgent need to promote adolescent health and development during the opening ceremony of the ‘Youth Deliver the Future’ in Abuja, Nigeria yesterday.

Jane Ferguson of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, reflected on the evolution of adolescent health over the last 20 years. Twenty years ago, most research was focused on the why of adolescent health—on why the global policies should reflect adolescent issues such as HIV/AIDS and too-early pregnancy among youth.

‘While regrettably [the why] is still needed, particularly for convincing national level policy makers, people are much more aware of the need to focus on adolescents,” said Ferguson. She cited the MDG indicators on HIV and reproductive health as areas that provide the world with vision and a sense of urgency for adolescent issues.

For the who aspect, the conference will focus on the different groups of adolescents around the world, such as girls and boys, young and older adolescents, married adolescents, and adolescents who are living in particularly vulnerable circumstances. “This is good because programmatically, it is very important to be as specific as possible about what one does differently [for these groups],” said Ferguson.

The conference also provides abundant attention to what needs to be done for adolescents. Some sessions would be on overall education, sex education through school and mass media. Others would be focusing on models of health service delivery tailored to meet adolescents’ needs, as well as programs to support parents of adolescents.

Perhaps the most significant in the conference are the increasing efforts to assess the when and the where of adolescent programs, in order to assess the impact of programs on adolescents’ attitudes and behaviours.

Ferguson’s words: “Unless we can be clear about the results of programming for adolescents, as well as the costs of these programmes, we will not be able to persuade the decision makers to allocate the investments needed for sustained programming.”

She concluded by saying that to get adolescent health on the global agenda we will not only have to be able to make a compelling case, but to be able to demonstrate how adolescent health programs are “do-able.”

“We are confident that the discussions over the next days will clarify the challenges we face in improving policies and programmes for adolescent health and development in countries, and persuading others to do this now,” said Ferguson.

Ferguson promised that the John Hopkins’ ‘Youth Deliver the Future’ conference would move away from the why and focus more on the who, the what, the where, the when, and the how of adolescent health.

By Amanda Hale

Investing into young people’s health; quotes to ponder on

2008-04-28T10:48:00.000Z

Young people have again attracted the attention of the world with the ongoing international conference on young people’s health and development. The opening ceremony of the conference under the theme ‘youth deliver the future,’ offered yet another volley of wonderful speeches punctuated with quotes for delegates to ponder once they return to their respective countries.

The First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mrs. Hajia Turai Umar Yar’adua, made an opening address that “the substantial increase in the number of young people globally presents us with more opportunities than challenges. Equipping this uniquely energetic and technologically minded population group with the best of the resources offers the best opportunity to move our world like never before. This is an opportunity we dare not miss; for the consequence of failure is too costly to contemplate.”

But the First Lady was not yet done. “To reduce the risks young people are exposed to and promote their development, nations and societies need to massively and strategically invest in young people’s development more than ever before,” she added.

From the First Lady’s speech it was apparent that there is need for more investment of resources – including financial ones - in young people’s programmes. Financial resources always present a big challenge to youth programmes as often times once the funding taps are closed, everything comes to a halt. But representatives of several development agencies that have been funding youth programmes offered a ray of hope, which policy makers and government officials from developing countries can take advantage of.

“The United States Agency for International Development, in collaboration with the Nigerian Government is committed to investing in the lives of the Nigerian people and worldwide through our youth programmes and interventions,” said USAID’s Dr Alh. Abdullahi Mawaida.

Representing the World Bank, Ms Elizabeth Lule said, “We stand ready to finance programmes that work for the benefit of young people and their families, communities and nations. Investing in young people’s health and development and looking at the evidence to improve policies and programmes is central to reducing global poverty and promoting economic growth…”

However, she stressed that there is need to focus more on programmes that have worked for scale-up. This indeed saves resources from being wasted on programmes that do not work.

By Kakaire Kirunda
Daily Monitor,Uganda
akakaire@monitor.co.ug

Hope for the future

2008-04-28T10:46:00.000Z

Youths in developing countries have been given hope for a brighter future. Several speakers at the opening ceremony of the international conference on investing in young people’s health and development yesterday outlined the need to focus on the health and development of young people.

“To reduce the risks young people are exposed to and promote their positive development, nations and societies need to massively and strategically invest in young people’s development more than ever before,” said Hajia Turai Umar Yar ‘Adua, Nigeria’s First Lady.

According to the December 2007 African journal of Reproductive Health, Africa has a high burden of ill-health associated with adolescent reproductive health. However, there is little understanding of what needs to be done to reduce the magnitude of this problem.

Susan Rich of the Bill and Melinda Gates’ Foundation outlined the Foundation’s commitment to making strategic investments in the health and development of young people, which will yield returns in future. Since 1995, the Foundation has invested $129 million to improve information and services to protect young people from HIV/AIDS and unwanted pregnancy.

It is good that society is starting to recognize the vulnerability of females. A study on protecting the next generation in sub Saharan Africa, which will be presented today reveals that adolescent females in sub-Saharan Africa tend to have sex at an earlier age than males. This puts them at a risk of unwanted pregnancies, HIV and other adverse outcomes. The study was carried out in Uganda, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Malawi. Nearly 60% of females have had sex by 18 years compared to 40-45% of the youth according to the study.

These findings, although alarming, will go a long way in tickling governments and policy makers particularly in the developing countries, where the biggest number of youth is based, to come up with realistic policies to ensure a bright future for the biggest composition of the global population.

Like different speakers noted yesterday, we cannot have a bright future without addressing the reproductive health concerns of the youth.

By Anthony Bugembe
The New Vision, Uganda
abugembe@newvision.co.ug

Journalists train on issues affecting adolescent health

2008-04-27T15:07:00.000Z

With 20 per cent of the global population between the ages of 10-19, today's youth are making a critical impact on the society around them. By the time a young person turns 16, he or she may have moved out of their parents' house, had their first job, had their first sexual experience, had their first child, or even entered their first marriage. The transition from childhood to adulthood is becoming increasingly more demanding as adult expectations and responsibilities are put straight into the hands of adolescents.

“Adolescence is a turbulent time,” said Amy Tsui of John Hopkins University, USA, during her presentation on the demographics of young people around the world at yesterday's Journalist Seminar on Health and Development of Young People, in conjunction with the John Hopkins' 'Youth Deliver the Future' conference in Abuja, Nigeria.

But the training revealed that journalists can help adolescents to make a smooth transition from childhood to adulthood by raising positive awareness for counseling and mentorship for youth, sexuality education, guidance and resources for youth, and a lance of peer counseling and parent-to-child communication among other stories.

During a story-generating exercise led by Akin Jimoh of Development Communications Network and Josephine Kamara of Internews Nigeria, Josephine Kamara urged journalists to narrow in on issues of adolescent health and development at the conference by finding people to share personal stories that reflect important issues, such as peer
pressure or sexual violence.

“It will be tempting to cover every presentation and speaker at the conference, but that is impossible,” she said. “Just get the specifics for your topics and tell the issues like they are.”

Journalists then brainstormed a number of topics including abstinence/sex policies, poverty, teen pregnancy, unemployment, media pressure/influence, communicating with adults, discussing taboo issues with parents and teachers, demographic stories, and the effectiveness of current youth programs.

Apart from the brainstorm session, the training also had various presentations on 'Key issues facing young people' from Family Health International, 'HIV Stigma and Discrimination and the Media' by International Center for Research on Women, and 'Finding and Using Data on Youth' by Population Reference Bureau (PRB).

Amy Tsui concluded the training by saying, 'I'm not a journalist, I'm not a writer, but I have a strong belief in the importance of what you do.'

By Amanda Hale

Youths are the solutions to the problems of this generation----Prof Amy Tsui

2008-04-27T14:46:00.000Z

In a brief interview at the pre-conference training for journalists at the ongoing 'Youth deliver the future Conference' in Abuja, Nigeria Professor Amy Tsui, of the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA reiterates the importance of assuring the health of youths in this dispensation

Question: The Youth deliver the future conference starts today, with the theme ‘Investing in young people’s health and development’. Why is the focus on youths?
Today there are more adolescents than at any time in history. It is estimated that in sub-Saharan Africa, half of the population is under the age of 15, and less than 5% is over 60. There are 1.2 billion people between the ages of 10 to 19. This group makes up about 20% of the global population (WHO, 2002) so youths are the solution to the problems of this generation. Important lifetime consequences come about from the things that this group of people do and there are demographic dividends to be accrued from the percentage of the burden placed on this group. It is for this reason that issues concerning their health is of paramount importance. This conference seeks to share research results on studies on youths from across the globe and present these results such that policy makers would be presented with ideas and best practices, so that at the end of the conference, it would hopefully bring a paradigm shift in policy making and implementation, and monitoring for best practices.

Question: Why was the conference venue chosen to be in Africa?
The youth conference is one in the series of biannual conferences organized by the John Hopkins School. We have had a conference on Visco Vaginal Fistulae (VVF) and one on integrating HIV into reproductive health policies. This is the third one and is being hosted in Africa because of the percentage of young people in the continent, and because in some areas of health such as mental and sexual health, adolescents suffer disproportionately. The consequences of poor health at this age also stretch into the future, affecting their prospects and those of their children. In addition, health-related behaviors, such as smoking, eating habits, sexual behaviors, and help-seeking behaviors developed during adolescence often endure into later life.

Question: How can African countries take advantage of the opportunities given by the expected Demographic dividend?
African countries should try harder to ensure the judicious use of public resources to cater for the health of the people, especially youths and young people. Every country has competing needs but if adequate resources are put in place some of the problems encountered now due to the demography of the nation would be alleviated. Besides, increasing female enrollments and labour force participation, introducing changes in technology and institutions to raise agricultural productivity and increasing land conservation, coupled with developing and implementing a comprehensive population policy that includes more effective family planning would ensure that upcoming African economies reap the demographic dividend of this generation.

By Nnenna Ike

Now that my baby is gone...

2008-04-18T14:39:00.000Z

‘When Tolu was fifteen days old, I noticed that she was breathing in a strange way – making little grunting noises. I called my husband and we both went to the hospital, only to be told by the doctors that my baby had a defective heart. The surgery took place two days later. But instead of getting better, Tolu started looking frail and this alarmed me. She went in for the second surgery, and by now she had become too weak to undergo the third one.

The doctor could not close the hole in Tolu’s heart and after two frightening weeks, Tolu died. All our hopes and dreams were dashed. I would wake every day with my mind full of my baby – so my Tolu is dead! No day went by without my asking “Why?”

Why me? Why my Tolu? It took a while before I could understand and accept that it was not my fault. With lots of support from my husband, relatives and friends, I’ve come to live one day at a time.’ --Words from a grieving mother.

Losing a pregnancy can be very devastating, no matter when it happens or what the circumstance. Experiencing pregnancy loss can bring about a profound change in the mother. It is normal to feel shock, grief, guilt, anger, depression, and a sense of failure. Or, the mother may feel withdrawn and moody, especially if she had told people that she was pregnant before.

But with time comes healing. It is important to give yourself time to heal. There is no need for the mother to pressure herself into getting past the sadness quickly. Although it may seem painful to talk about, sharing the story about the loss will allow the woman to feel less alone and will help her heal. Understanding and support may come from unexpected people.

Also, it is good to remember that men and women grieve in different ways. If your partner doesn't seem to be affected by the loss as deeply as you are, understand that men and women grieve differently. While women tend to express their feelings and look for support from others, men tend to hold their feelings inside and deal with loss on their own. Likewise, men often feel they need to take care of their partners by remaining strong. Sharing one’s feelings and needs gives both parties the freedom to experience the loss in their own way.

Many women who experience pregnancy loss go on to have successful pregnancies. Once the pain of their grief subsides, the women and her partner can talk about whether to attempt another pregnancy and, if so, when she’d like to try again. Another pregnancy may yield feelings of sadness for her earlier loss — but it may also inspire hope for the future.

By Adanma Ike

Global report on MNCH released today

2008-04-17T16:39:00.000Z

The Countdown to 2015: Tracking Progress in Maternal, Newborn and Child Health report was released today in Cape Town, South Africa, during the opening ceremony of the international ‘Countdown to 2015’ conference, in which delegates from around the world discussed the major headways and obstacles to achieving global maternal and child health by 2015, in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5.

The report investigated the maternal, newborn and child health status in 68 key countries around the world, and found that few are making progress in reaching women and children with clinical care services, such as having skilled attendants at delivery or treating children for malaria. Postnatal care is also an important gap in the first week after childbirth when mothers and newborns are at highest risk to illness and complication. Under-nutrition is an area of little or no progress, contributing to more than one-third of deaths in children under five annually. Weak health systems and a lack of data collection and dissemination processes to make timely data more readily available for planning and implementation of MNCH programs are also some of the key obstacles to achieving MDG goals 4 and 5 by 2015.

As such, the report calls for action from policymakers, media practitioners, health workers, activists, and government figureheads to take these crucial steps towards achieving maternal and child health by 2015:

• Sustain and expand successful efforts to achieve high and equitable coverage for priority interventions, including immunizations, vitamin A supplementation, family planning services, and antenatal, childbirth and postnatal care.

• Focus on the priority period within the continuum of care, from pre-pregnancy through 24 months—especially around time of birth.

• Strengthen health systems, focusing on measurable results.

• Set geographic and population priorities—especially targeting sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia—and stick to them during MNCH program planning.

• Prioritize programs for equity—programmatic efforts to address inequities must be supported by strong monitoring and evaluation.

• Monitor and evaluate locally-driven implementation research, and act on the results to deliver best practices for each country in regards to MNCH.

For the complete report on ‘Countdown to 2015’ you can visit www.countdown2015mnch.org/reports. Also stay tuned to Development Communication Network’s Media Deliver Now! blog site for further conference updates.

By Amanda Hale

Global ‘Countdown’ to achieving MNCH begins this week in South Africa

2008-04-15T16:10:00.000Z

A new report on Tracking progress in maternal, newborn and child survival: Countdown to 2015 will be launched this Thursday, April 17, at the International ‘Countdown to 2015’ Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

The conference, which takes place on April 17-19, offers a range of opportunities for the global community to bring issues of maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) to the foreground of international debate and policy-making, and to release groundbreaking information on the current state of the world’s progress towards reaching Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5. The event is predicted to be an important milestone following a wave of recent international advocacy efforts to mobilize global commitment and actions in MNCH.

Organized around a series of plenary sessions that focus on intervention coverage, equity, health systems, human resources and aid harmonization, the conference will place special emphasis on parallel sessions to present country case studies and success stories. The main objectives will include disseminating the most recent information on country-level progress in achieving health coverage with interventions for reducing mortality among mothers and children, promoting media visibility for the Countdown to 2015 Report, raising awareness of key decision-markers on MNCH issues, and providing a forum for the development of partnerships dedicated to maternal, newborn and child survival efforts.

With these objectives in mind, this year’s conference intends on making headway toward increasing coverage of key MNCH interventions in countries comprising 97 per cent of the global burden of maternal and childhood deaths. In Nigeria alone about 6 women die every hour from pregnancy-related complications, while infants and children are dying by the thousands every day. The conference is a way to address these tragic figures across the nation and to come up with evidence-based approaches to eliminating such needless deaths among women and children around the world.

‘Countdown to 2015’ takes place in conjunction with the 118th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Cape Town, giving conference organizers and delegates a chance to sensitize over 1,000 Parliamentarians to MNCH issues.

Please visit Development Communication Network’s Media Deliver Now! blog to view the upcoming ‘Tracking progress in maternal, newborn and child survival’ report and to read further updates from South Africa.

By Amanda Hale

Promoting Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs) for malaria control in Nigeria

2008-03-25T15:08:00.000Z

Nigeria's effort to combat the burden of malaria on its populace received a boost with a new initiative to produce Insecticide treated Nets locally. The country's Ministry of Health with active support from partners and other stakeholders had pooled together over 15 million Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) and distributed them to beneficiaries in all the 36 states of the federation, but there is shortfall of about 55 million, "which we are trying to address," says health Minister Professor Adenike Grange.

Intection Bestnet Europe Ltd. in collaboration with Rosies Textile Mills Ltd. are collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Health in the fight against malaria in Nigeria and to produce the nets locally with the establishment of a factory that will produce LLINs at the rate of 100,000 per month in the first year. This capacity will be increased to 200,000 monthly in the second year with provision for annual increases. Similar ventures have been successfully implemented in India, and the Federal Ministry of Health supports the novel approach by Intection in its efforts to contribute to the Roll Back Malaria process in Nigeria.

Past efforts and commitments by the government and her partners in the scaling up of the distribution and use of ITNs in Nigeria had not yielded much as majority of the beneficiaries still have no access to the ITNs. This has posed a great challenge to the attainment of Roll Back Malaria (RBM) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets by 2010 and 2015 respectively.

All around the world, appropriate use of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) has led to a sharp decrease in severe malaria attacks by up to 45% and a reduction in child mortality by over 17%. It has been estimated that a total of 74 million long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) are required to achieve universal coverage and that 80% of people at risk should have access to ITNs by 2010.

A greater commitment from governments at all levels and partners is needed for the provision of additional ITNs to sustain the current momentum towards malaria elimination. This will help Nigeria to reach the goal of a Malaria-free Nigeria in line with the Global Malaria Programme strategy and the current strategy for scaling up ITNs distribution, which deems that all persons at risk of malaria should have access to ITNs.

The greatest challenge however is the inadequate capacity to locally provide the LLINs. Furthermore, there is no local technology for the production of LLINs in Nigeria. This calls for novel approaches to ensure an interrupted provision of the LLINs in Nigeria.

Dr. Yemi Sofola, National Coordinator of the Roll Back Malaria strategy (center right) and Prof. Adenike Grange, Nigerian Minister of Health, meet with officers of Intection Bestnet Europe Ltd. to discuss malaria prevention strategies in Nigeria.

By Amanda Hale

Devcoms' Immersion fellows

2008-03-18T16:09:00.000Z

With the support of Ford Foundation, Development Communications Network conducted the orientation of the first batch of Immersion fellows for Devcoms’ Health Journalists’ Immersion Programme to Strengthen Integrated Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (IMNCH) in Nigeria, from Friday 22nd to Saturday 23rd, February 2008. Fifteen journalists from the print, broadcast, and radio media attended the orientation. The training aimed at better equipping the fellows to work as a critical mass for reporting Maternal Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) issues.

Please read the following profiles and get to know our talented Immersion fellows better!

***

Ijeoma Popoola:
A senior correspondent for the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mrs. Ijeoma Popoola has dedicated much of her career to health and environment coverage in the media. Since her graduation from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, with a degree in Mass Communication in 1994, Popoola has worked with NAN in covering the health of Nigerian women and children. She believes that a participation in the fellowship for the Immersion Programme will enable her to inform Nigerians to take advantage of existing government facilities for maternal and child health to improve their healthcare and wellbeing.

Ijeoma Iheme:
Ijeoma Iheme’s diverse communications background has landed her positions as a reporter, communications officer, marketing manager, and press officer at various media organizations and companies around Nigeria. As a professional who is interested in issues pertaining to access to good water, sanitation issues, etc. and their relationship to maternal, newborn and child health, Iheme is dedicated to the Immersion Programme and the practical skills she will gain from her journalist training.

Sekinah T. Lawal:
Sekinah T. Lawal is a practising Senior Health Correspondent with the National Mirror Newspapers. In her daily reporting, she advocates for exclusive breastfeeding for newborns and raises awareness of the alarming statistics of the maternal and infant mortality rate in Nigeria. Since graduating from the Universiy of Lagos with a degree in Mass Communications in 1996, Lawal has been very passionate in her reportorial duties especially in the area of Health, hence the prompting to pursue her Masters in Public Health. Lawal believes that partaking in the Immersion Programme will be another opportunity to receive needed information about MNCH, and to have the tools to push for a better policy in terms of women and children issues through the pages of Nigeria’s newspapers.

Godwin Haruna:
Godwin Haruna is a deputy features editor and health editor with THISDAY Newspapers, where he has dedicated most of his time to covering stories on HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, unsafe abortion and other disease conditions. His journey to join journalism was a conscious one over time, and he derives pleasure in his ability to enlighten the public through his writing. This passion, he believes, is required for journalists to stem the spread of HIV and to force the hands of policy makers to take positive decisions on other disease conditions, especially maternal and child mortality in Nigeria.

Ukpai Oka Ezera:
Ukpai Ezera is a news correspondent at RHYTHM 93.7FM Lagos and reports on health, education and religion beats. He hopes to hone his investigative journalism skills during the Immersion Programme to articulate the views of the generality of the public on their healthcare expectations with a view to enrich government’s policy formulation process through his reportage. In addition, he plans to regularly reconcile the huge budgetary figures for the health sector and its impact on Nigeria’s citizen.

Fatimah Abdulkareem:
As Chief Editor and health reporter for the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS), Fatimah Abdulkareem has dedicated 17 years to reporting health issues on broadcast and radio media, including her weekly radio and TV programme “You and Your Health” which covers issues relating to maternal, newborn and child health in Nigeria. Her favourite food is pounded yam and vegetable soup, while her hobbies include driving, meeting people and most importantly making a difference in people’s lives. As a journalist focusing on health issues, Abdulkareem believes that prevent HIV positive mothers from infecting the unborn is an area that needs to be focused on and reported on in the media, and she hopes to achieve this through the Immersion Programme.

Jennifer Igwe:
Jennifer Igew is a senior presenter, reporter and producer with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA 2 Channel 5) in Lagos. She reports on health, environmental and social issues. As a finalist under the Kaiser Family Foundation for the CNN/African Journalist of the Year awards for 2007 HIV/AIDS reporting, Igwe continues to deliver quality health reports on diverse health areas in Nigeria.

Iliya M. Kure:
Iliya Kure is a reporter with the federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria in Kaduna. A graduate from the University of Maiduguri with a BA (Hons) in Mass Communications, Kure reports on issues relating to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and polio vaccinations, among many others, during his time in Kaduna.

Olaiya Temitope Templer:
Olaiya Templer is an interned Reporter with the Guardian Newspaper and covers various beats including news, city file reports, special reports, human-angle stories and cover stories. He feels highly honoured to participate in the Immersion Programme as the programme offers the opportunity to break new ground in the field of investigative reporting and to sway public attention away from issues in politics or sports to the more timely developments in health issues to bring about policy development and implementation.

Abiose Adelaja:
Abiose Adelaja is a correspondent for National Daily Newspaper and anchors four pages of health and science section. A recent nominee for the Nieman Foundation Fellowship in Global Health Reporting at Harvard University, the Immersion programme offers Abiose the opportunity to network with researchers and journalists of like passion and to join in the alliance of pushing maternal, newborn and child health issues on top policy agenda.

Nonye Aghaji:
Nonye Aghaji is a health reporter with Vision FM (92.1FM) in Abuja, Nigeria. She has covered special reports on maternal and child health issues, including safe abortion and paediatric ART, and expects that the investigative skills she will acquire from the Immersion Programme will be very useful to her in doing research and fact finding for further informative stories on MNCH.

Chiamaka Bobby-Umeano:
Chiamaka Bobby-Umeano is a freelance journalist with a great interest in health and development issues. Over the years she has worked with several broadcast companies, including Minaj Broadcast International and Taraba Television, Jalingo, and attended professional trainings in investigative journalism, peace building, and gender mainstreaming to further build her capacity as a health journalist. It is her belief that the Immersion Programme will thus give her the experience to continue addressing issues affecting mothers and children in Nigeria.

C.A. Ugwuegbu:
Chinyereugo Ugwuegbu is an English graduate from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Over the past two years Ugwuegbu has worked as a broadcast journalist for Radio Nigeria Abuja National Station as a health reporter and a presenter. Her interest in the availability of information on MNCH and access to health care facilities in rural areas makes her an ideal candidate for the Immersion Programme

Vincent B. Danture:
Vincent Danture is a journalist with the News and Current Affairs Department of Gombe Media Corporation (GMC). He believes that as a journalist with training, responsibility, and the desire to live up to his social responsibility, his experience in covering programmes and events for the Immersion Programme will build his ability to write analysis and commentaries of MNCH that will ensure a multi-sectoral involvement.

Augustine Abutu Alex:
Augustine Alex is a science journalist with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) covering health, engineering, agriculture and other related issues. Alex has received multiple trainings from UNFPA News, World Bank, and the World Federation of Science Journalists, and he believes that the participation in the Immersion Programme will position him in good stead to critically analyze trends in the health sector and conduct objective research that would expose the shortfalls of MNCH policies and commit government to action.

Ibrahim A. Yusuf:
Ibrahim Yusuf currently works at The Nation newspaper as a correspondent attached to the Sunday title. Though he is a correspondent on the general beat, Yusuf has reported multiple health-related stories, including reproductive and public health issues over the past six years of his journalist career. His primary concern as a journalist in the Immersion Programme is to raise critical issues that concern public health above the din so as to create complete awareness and ultimately seek for means and ways of addressing such issues for the common good.

Appolonia O. Adeyemi:
Appolonia Adeyemi is a Senior Correspondent and Head for the health desk at NewAge, a publication of Century Media Limited. Her position places her in an editorial position to influence the publication of MNCH issues in health pages, feature pages and anywhere where it is relevant within NewAge. Having taken the decision to be part of the Immersion Programme, Adeyemi feels that the training she will receive will expose her to all aspects of MNCH, especially child growth and survival, of which she will put to good use to influence policies and bring about positive behaviour change geared towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Isaiah Abraham:
Isaiah Abraham is a journalist for New Nigerian Newspapers in Abuja. He schooled at the Ghana Institute of Journalism with a focus on Population Communication and Research in 1992, and has since worked at a variety of publications, including Daily Times of Nigeria, and has received such awards as the Nigerian Media Merit Award in 2000. He believes that participation in the Immersion Programme will add value to his professional practice, deepen his knowledge and experience through re-orientation of the mind to recognise issues relating to Maternal and Child Mortality and help to appreciate the danger they constitute.

Sani Shuaibu Malumfashi:
Sani Malumfashi is the center coordinator of the Voice of America VOA Hausa Health Initiative, Reproductive Health and Child Survival. Originally from Katsina, he has 29 years experience working as a journalist in Radio Nigeria and NTA Kaduna. His focus on child spacing and maternal health during his programs is a key reason that Malumfashi is an ideal candidate for the Immersion Programme.

Ebun Babalola:
Ebun Babaolola is a health correspondent with Vanguard Newspapers, where she has reported on health issues for the last three years. She believes that the Immersion Programme will have a positive effect on the face of the country and the people, especially in the area of maternal, newborn and child health, and is grateful to take part in the program.

Bakare Morayosola:
Morayosola Bakare is a journalist at the Life & Style desk of The News Magazine. She has undertaken various health stories, especially those related to maternal, newborn, and child health, and has represented her medium at several health conferences.

Asmau Musa Iliasu:
Asmua Iliasu works as a reporter at Freedom Radio to cover maternal mortality rate causes and how it can be addressed in Nigeria.

Eugene Agha:
Eugene Agha is a feature reporter working with ThisDay Newspapers. He has over 10 years of experience as a journalist in Nigeria, and believes that the immersion project will go a long way to improve the policy formulation and implementation in the area of maternal and child health in Nigeria.

Women’s Rights are Human Rights!

2008-03-05T15:58:00.001Z

Congratulations! But take heart! Just yesterday another woman who resides in Ikorodu, a suburb in Lagos, Nigeria, died because her husband was not available to sign a document authorising the doctor to commence a life-saving operation on her.

The disheartening death of more than half a million (500,000) women across the world annually from complications arising from pregnancy and childbearing is alarming and should be seen from the human rights angle if any progress is to come.

More disheartening is the fact that several individuals and institutions still perpetrate the “sacred” act of gaining permission from the husband before seeking health services upon birth. But why should a woman seek the consent and signature of her husband who has the locus standi before an operation (no matter how urgent and life-threatening) could be carried out on her? What happens if she wants it as an independent decision? Why are men not subjected to the same process of seeking the consent and obtaining the signature of their wives or another female who has the locus standi before an operation, no matter how little or complex, could be carried out on him?

The displacement and cultural relegation of women relative to men is also a vital contributor to maternal mortality. A cross-national study of 79 developing countries found that women’s status is a strong predictor of maternal mortality. A study of women’s autonomy and use of maternal health care services in Uttar Pradesh, India, found that women with greater freedom of movement obtained more antenatal care and were more likely to use safe-delivery care.

In Nigeria, there is still great debate on whether the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) should be ratified. CEDAW, in essence, establishes an agenda for national action towards putting a concrete stop to discrimination. It also makes provision for bringing about equality between men and women; this is intended by fostering women's equal access and opportunity to political and public life as well as education, health and employment.

In addition, Article 12 of CEDAW mandates governments of state parties to make available appropriate services in relation with pregnancy, delivery, and the post-natal period. It also obliges the government of state parties to ensure access to free services, where necessary, as well as adequate nutrition during pregnancy and lactation.

Nigeria is a signatory to many international treaties, covenant and conventions including CEDAW. Like many other countries, Nigeria is hit by the devastating effect of maternal mortality. This is, among other reason, due to the fact that though Nigeria is a signatory to the several international treaties and conventions, it is yet to legislate concretely on issues relating to maternal mortality.

In the light of the increasing deaths accruing from maternal mortality, there is the need for Nigeria to view health issues as life issues. As such, this should be seen from the guaranteed point of section 33 of the Nigerian constitution which provides that: “Every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria.”

Thus if it is not a crime for a woman to be pregnant, then it is criminal for the government or any other institutions or persons to deprive the woman of her right to life by not providing all resources and facilities necessary to ensure safe motherhood.

There is a need to bridge the gap between the works being done and the devastating effect of complications arising from maternal mortality. Aside from legal and political instruments, Nigerian state parties should also ensure advancement of technological innovations in terms of equipment, supplies, procedures, techniques and manpower development to help mitigate the devastating incidences of maternal mortality.

At the various levels of policy formulation and implantation at the national, management or service levels, deliberate effort should be made at fostering human rights principles into proposed projects and programs. This is achievable by legislating to stop all forms of discrimination against women, including violence against women (particularly harmful practices affecting women's health); putting in place adequate antenatal, delivery, and postpartum care for all women; providing family planning services and information to all women and adolescents of reproductive age; and empowering women to be responsible for their reproductive health decision by putting an end to the spousal consent requirement for some particular services.

These are basic human rights and no matter what is being done, they must not be compromised. They are non-negotiable. They should be given to the woman because she is a crucial member of the human family.

By Kawe Lucky

‘Youth Deliver the Future’ when it comes to making maternal and child health a reality

2008-03-05T13:23:00.000Z

To combat the growing number of women and child deaths around the world, a coalition of active youths who are willing to take on the wide girth of challenges in today’s development and public health issues is becoming a necessary weapon.

But many researchers and health experts have found that in order to have a society of determined young people with a vision of a better future, we first need to take proper steps to deliver the necessary health and developmental needs of young people around the world, especially those in low-resource settings.

In the upcoming “Youth Deliver the Future” conference convened by Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA, the health and development of young people around the world will be discussed, debated, and deliberated upon by researchers and practitioners, as well as youth delegates themselves. The conference, themed “Investing in Young People’s Health and Development: Research that Improves Policies and Programs,” aims to provide an international forum for exchanging research and evidence on how to meet the health and developmental needs of young people in low-resource settings.

As such, the conference offers an opportunity for researchers and consumers of research findings and implementers of youth programming as well as youths themselves, to learn from research, share lessons and valuable experiences, and provide recommendations for improving adolescent health around the world. Population, development, sexual and reproductive health, poverty reduction and gender equity as they affect young people will be the top discussions during a multitude of forums for international research and development.

Expected outcomes from the international ‘Youth Deliver the Future’ conference include increased resources and commitment to youth-directed investments in health and development at international, national, and local levels.

The conference takes place on April 27-30 in Abuja, Nigeria, at the Nicon Luxury Hotel, and is partnered by the Institute of Public Health, Obafemi Awolowo University; Centre for Population and Reproductive Health, University of Ibadan; Nigeria Federal Ministry of Health, Youth, and Education; and over 40 international and national organizations.

By Amanda Hale

Nigeria's science and health coverage needs a boost in the media

2008-02-26T14:41:00.000Z

Science is the bedrock of professions like medicine, engineering, and agriculture, on which the quality of our life is anchored. Since all scientists and media practitioners share the vision of a better life for our people, we have a responsibility in ensuring that the general population receive simple and understandable scientific information that could be important for their welfare.

At the round table last week between journalists and the Nigerian Academy of Science on “Assessment of Science Reporting in Nigeria,’ participants critiqued the current state of science journalism by examining research reporting in Nigeria. The roundtable reviewed the climate change phenomenon in Nigeria, ensuring effective collaboration between the Nigerian media and the Nigerian Academy of Science. The vibrant discussion also focused on how people can become better informed on advances in science and technology.

Presently, science reports and news are ineffectively covered in the print and electronic media, both in absolute terms and in comparison to the coverage given to literature and other liberal arts. Though scientists have a traditional avenue for communicating their research findings, which usually includes publishing their studies in appropriate scientific or professional journals, the roundtable enjoined them to adopt the media as also an effective way of passing across their research findings to the general populace who need the knowledge.

In the same vein, the mass media, the mass media needs to fine-tune their role of linking the scientist to the general public. A commendable lot has been done in this regard but there is still need for improvement. Science information should be regarded as an important element of public information on issues of vital importance to the population.

The roundtable commended the attempts being made by some organizations to improve the reportage of science; the Nigeria Academy of Science, Development Communications Network and the Association of Science Journalist were commended for their strive to increase the level of reporting of scientific activities by scientific organizations, to report scientific advances made in the country, and to initiate public debates on the ethics of scientific studies reported by our scientists.

By Pelumi Olukoya

Violence against women still a daily reality in Sudan

2008-02-13T15:47:00.000Z

When Sudan first emerged into the evening news headlines, people around the world heard stories of conflict between the Northern, predominantly Muslim, regions and the Southern, predominantly Christian, regions of Sudan. In those horrific stories of warfare and civilian deaths, one story remained woefully silent—what happened to all the women? And what is being done today to protect these women from repeated violence and harassment across Sudan?

Three years after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed between north and south Sudan, women living in the country are still treated like second-class citizens. Sexual violence within marriage is still common, female genital mutilation (FGM), a harmful traditional practice that often leads to infection, painful sexual encounters, and even death for young women, is still practiced, and rape is still a terrifying daily reality.

In many parts of Sudan, particularly the northern areas, streets are deemed as ‘men’s only’ areas. If a woman is seen walking or driving by herself, especially after dark, she becomes a target for harassment.

“If you resist sexual advances from men, they will ask you, ‘Then why are you out on the street?’ said Shaza Balla Mohamed, a Sudanese delegate at this year’s 3rd Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights in Abuja. “They assume that if you are out walking outside then you are looking for a man. It’s very dangerous.”

Mohamed and her colleague, Sharaz Magzoub, work for a civil society organization called Salmmah for Women Resources in northern Sudan. Their roles as advocates for women’s rights and the abolishment of FGM has put them on the government ‘black list’ as enemies of the government. But despite these obstacles they continue to educate others on strategies to end sexual violence against Sudanese women.

In his presentation to delegates at the 3rd Africa conference, Sharaz Magzoub spoke on “Sexual Violence in Darfur” and the crippling effect that female disempowerment has reaped on the whole of his country.

Since 2003, the Sudanese government has used mass rape as a systematic weapon of war to terrorize and subjugate entire communities at large. Though civil societies—such as MSF Holland and Human Rights Watch—have documented these calculated attacks on women at an international level, the Sudanese government continues to reject these claims as ‘anti-government propaganda’ made up by foreigners and ‘leftist’ spies. Many workers in foreign civil society organizations in Sudan are restricted by the government to the areas they work in, and don’t have the necessary resources to reach out to villagers on issues of sexuality and gender empowerment. Some civil workers have even faced deportation or jail sentences from the government due to the humanitarian projects they undertake.

Despite these challenges, many civil society organizations have succeeded in breaking through government barriers to provide psychosocial services for rape victims, report rape cases, train citizens in transitional justice, and carry out international crime court procedures. Because of this success Magzoub strongly advocates that donor agencies, both national and international, recognize the importance of civil society’s role in uplifting the lives of women in Darfur and around Sudan.

“We need more than laws to prohibit violence against women,” Magzoub said. In the case of FGM, Magzoub and Mohamed agree that the government should prohibit doctors from practicing the procedure; however, they said that the midwives or religious figures in the villages that practice the procedure would first need civil societies or the media to educate them on the dangers of FGM before they would be willing to stop. This calls for greater civil society presence in village areas and a revolution in the media.

In addition, Magzoub also recommended that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement be revisited and given legal reform to reflect women’s rights in the aftermath of the Sudan crisis. “We can’t continue to allow ignorance, culture, and religion to be excuses for violating women’s rights,” said Mohamed.

By Amanda Hale

Youth sexuality: Value yourself and attain your potential

2008-02-07T08:27:00.000Z

African youths have been enjoined to value their sexuality as much as they value the possessions they expend energy and their mearge resources to acquire. This would, not only allow for positive self expression but bring about a reduction in HIV transmission through sex. “If you can use so much money to buy skin and beauty products, why not value your sexuality, why treat your genitals with so low value that anybody can be your partner? Why disregard your genitals such that you do not even know how it looks, or how to take care of it adequately?”

However, there are various challenges that young people with HIV face in the African society and these include: Inadequate youth-friendly services, Challenges of drug dosage for adolescents; Stigma from health workers, community and peers on assumed mode of transmission; Stigma in school at/on admission; Stigma from peers on assumed mode of infection, Sex abuse/seduction and Inability to freely express one’s sexuality.

Leading this discussion was Rolake Odetoyinbo, executive Director of Positive Action for Treatment Access (PATA) yesterday at the Youth Sexuality Institute of the conference taking place at the Taraba Hall of the International Conference centre Abuja. As the discussion progressed, it was agreed that the popular ABCs of prevention are still legit, there has been efforts to review t and thus make it more realistic especially for youths. The revised version should read thus A- Accept and acknowledge that sex happens; B –Be realistic and wake up t reality; C- Choices must be available; D- Delayed sexual activity should be encouraged amongst the youths; E- Empower people to negotiate safer sex or say No to unwanted sex; F- Financial independence for women.

Stigma and discrimination, power dynamics between men and women were identified as some of the prominent forces driving the spread the epidemic. These were besides religion and beliefs, the culture of silence and denial and harmful traditional practices.

According to Odetoyinbo, there are a lot of unspoken issues concerning HIV/AIDS and the youths in Africa and particularly in Nigeria. To counteract these issues and save lives, the youths themselves have been tasked to change their perceptions of the disease and their reactions to issues surrounding HIV/AIDS. Armed with the correct information, the youths in this age are better equipped not only to live their life more productively, but have the power to curb the further spread of the epidemic in the continent.

* By Nnenna Ike

Maternal mortality and morbidity and the youth

2008-02-06T08:46:00.001Z

“My neighbor’s wife gave birth to a healthy baby but by the time the medical personnel knew that there was another baby still in her womb, she was already weak. The hospital did not have the equipment to operate on her as the baby was breeched. When they took her to another hospital that had the equipment, there was no power supply to carry out the operation. When she was taken to a government hospital, she died because the hospital initially refused o admit her because she had not registered there early in her pregnancy.”

“I once had a friend who died. Initially we joked with her saying she was going fat. But after we were told she was dead, we later learnt that she was pregnant and went to the chemist to get some drugs. It was these drugs that she took that made her die.”

These are some of the observations made by some of the youth delegates at the youth sexuality Institute of the 3rd African Conference on Sexual Health and Rights. The fact that a selection of youths around Africa were admitted ever knowing pregnant woman who had complications of pregnancy and had adverse effect at childbirth is a pointer that the state of maternal, newborn and child health in Africa and Nigeria in particular leaves more to be desired.

The vibrant discussion was moderated by Dr Lucy Idoko of the UNFPA Abuja office at the second session of the Youth Sexual Institute of the Conference yesterday in a presentation titled ‘Maternal mortality and morbidity and the youth’. In order to mitigate the high rate of maternal mortality and morbidity, youths should have a firm grasp of the causes of maternal mortality. The discussion went ahead to highlight obstructed labour, early age of pregnancy, multi-parity and unsafe abortion as some of the causes of maternal mortality and morbidity.

The case of unsafe abortion was dealt upon with emphasis being played on the fact that abortion is said to be safe when it is being carried out by a medical personnel using the correct equipment and procedures and in a sanitary location, any other form of termination of a pregnancy is an unsafe abortion and should not be encouraged by any young person. Some myths about abortions were discussed and dispelled and the youths told that there must be effective counseling for every youth to make an informed decision as pertaining to conception and seeking abortions.

The responsibilities of youth boys and girls were listed as: arming themselves with correct information on available facilities for management of pregnancy and its complications, being able to exercise the sexual and reproductive rights to remove barriers which may be cultural, social and religious, educating their peers and community members on the need for appropriate care.

The youth sexuality Institute of the 3rd Africa conference on sexual health and rights kicked off yesterday with the following sessions: Defining the key terms and concept: sex, sexuality, gender, sexual health and rights; Status of youth sexual health and rights in Africa 1: what are the issues of concern and Status of youth Health and Rights in Africa 11: Progress made and further actions required.

By Nnenna Ike

The impact of HIV/AIDS on women and their work roles in Uganda

2008-02-06T08:39:00.000Z

Sylvia Tamale, Dean of the Faculty of Law from Makerere University in Uganda, highlighted the fact, in her presentation on Gender, Work and HIV/AIDS in Uganda, that almost all research on the impact of HIV/AIDS totally ignores the role of women. On a personal level the emotional impact of HIV/AIDS and the extra workload assumed by women as a result is largely ignored. In terms of economic impact, most studies ignore the fact that support from the so-called care economy impacts directly on formal economy.

In Uganda, a woman’s work us largely invisible, unrecognised and undervalued; yet she is responsible for the care of the household, work in the field, selling goods on the roadside and co-ordinating community activities and often assumes double or triple shifts by working in the formal work force as well.

What studies tend to ignore is that a large proportion of the diverse activities performed by women does not fall into the traditional economy and does not make up part of Gross Domestic Product, but it is important to note that this largely female, largely invisible economy greatly subsidises and underpins the effectiveness of the visible economy, said Tamale.

At the heart of the struggle of HIV is the concept of care – physical care for the sick, care of the bereaved, psychological care and support of affected family members – and studies ignore the impact of HIV/AIDS care needs on the productivity and effectiveness of the work women do. Women are primarily responsible for the care of the sick, but the impact of the extra emotional, physical and time demands on her resources is not accounted for.

Studies also ignore the impact of personal HIV infection on the productivity of women doing unpaid work that sustain homesteads and families.

Infection often has dire consequences for a woman’s productive labour, and ultimately all these issues affect the economy at local, nationals and regional levels explained Tamale.

As HIV/AIDS related deaths chip away at the strong family network that guarantees familial support for siblings and the elderly there is a rise in women and child-headed households, imposing a socio-economic toll on affected families. Not only does this compromise a family’s standard of living, but also forces grandmother’s back into a full time parenting and household support role.

Since women are at the forefront of responding to the HIV/AIDS crisis, women in HIV affected families are often overburdened. However, Tamale noted that there were unexpected benefits from the pandemic, which include a new political consciousness of women, an increase in self esteem in women who are able to successfully offer help, the opening up of the silence on the taboo of talking about sex and a change in the traditional roles of men and women.

AIDS programmes ignore the elderly

2008-02-06T08:33:00.000Z

Despite the fact that people experience a deterioration in health as they age, and immune system compromise makes the elderly more vulnerable and the need for ARVs more urgent, the older population is largely ignored by current HIV/AIDS programmes and interventions said Dr Uche Azie, from Zimbabwe.

Dr Azie added that older population is likely to see a more dramatic effect to HIV infections and that care of infected elderly is more problematic as a result of existing diseases like diabetes.

Access to suitable nutrition for the elderly is made more difficult as they are usually less economically active, relying more on subsistence farming, and have a poor ability to make up for lost income due to illness, and are therefore also more susceptible to food insecurity.

Within the context of Zimbabwe the health of the elderly is further compromised by the fact that patient schemes are not structured for the elderly and they are expected to pay normal rates for medical care.
The impact of HIV/AIDS on the family structure in Africa also impacts on the elderly in two ways. The elderly are no longer able to rely on support from their children during old age, but instead, often become responsible for the care of their orphaned grandchildren.

The elderly are clearly neglected by HIV/AIDS policy and programmes, but they should be a key focus as they are primarily responsible for the care of AIDS orphans. The burden of caring for extended family members often results in a compromise in living standards, the sale of various assets from land to bicycles, the return to work of the retired, and in the worst cases the elderly resort to begging said Azie.

Older people are not represented at global, regional and country levels, and as a result the multi-sectoral responses to HIV/AIDS ignore the elderly, which according to Dr Azie is largely due to the fact that the elderly, who collect pensions, are seen as a cohort of dependent on the state rather than a response group in need of assistance and services.

In the face of PMTCT, and the focus on orphans, the youth, the 15-49 age-group, programmes totally bypass the elderly - even VCT is not offered to the elderly because of the perceived low risk of infection concluded Azie.

By Sharon Davis

Spirit Spouses: A phenomenon of sexual fantasy or a reality?

2008-02-06T08:29:00.000Z

The spirit-spouse belief system, a popular belief system in Nigeria came under scrutiny when Eno Blankson Ipke, a lecturer in the department of History and Strategic studies University of Lagos presented the findings of her study during the session ‘Sexual health in Africa’ yesterday.

Non-Nigerian delegates were wowed at hearing the situation as explained by Eno Blankson Ipke, where an individual is alleged to have constant sexual relations with a spirit spouse (not human).

Eno Blankson Ikpe said her interest to study the spirit-spouse belief system started when during one of the programmes of her church, the preacher had asked that people afflicted by spirit spouses should stand up for special prayers. “To my surprise, I was the only one left on the pew who did not stand up for this special prayer. My curiosity was aroused and I decided to take an academic study into this spirit spouse issue and my study has been most interesting.”

Mrs Ipke explained that the study which is on-going had a quantitative approach and interviewed individuals who have had spirit spouses and have been ‘delivered from their affliction, individuals who are still afflicted by these spirit spouses and persons who are relations and friends or know persons who have had or are still having spirit spouses.

As fairy tale as this may sound, the study findings are very revealing. Mrs Ipke said that her findings reveal “more ladies are afflicted by these spirit spouses than men and the spirit spouses seem to have a preference for fair ladies. The spirit husbands have constant sexual relations with the ladies in their dreams and these ladies claim that they wake up with physical evidence of sex like ‘sperm’ on their vaginal areas.”

Mrs. Ikpe explained that the phenomenon have sexuality implications on their human partners. When not yet married, the spirit spouses’ hinder their victims from getting married or remaining in a marriage union with another human partner. Also the spirit spouses take control of the human partner – who are powerless to resist the control and cannot resist the control - and make them do things like having multiple sexual partners and these human partners are powerless and cannot resist the control of their spirit spouses.

In a chat with this delegate and some others from Kenya, Mrs. Ikpe expressed the view that this spirit spouse belief system may be an African way of explaining off things we do not fully understand. She suspects that may be, these human partners who are mostly women may have been abused sexually at some point in their life – possibly at home (incest) and due to Africa’s culture of silence on issues of sexuality, these human partners at the time of being sexually abused had no one to talk to, or the abuse was shrouded in silence as is usually the case and at some point, begin to have imaginations. And since somebody has to be blamed for something and such bad things come from the spirit, it is best to blame it on a spirit which we cannot see than on incest. She noted that sexually abused persons have a tendency to some behaviour like multiple partners if not properly counselled and treated at the time of the sexual abuse. And this may well explain why human partners of spirit spouses may have multiple sex partners.

She is concerned that if this spirit spouse phenomenon is not fully researched into and facts established, the issues of accountability may not be achieved. This she noted is because the human partners will continue to blame their spirit spouses for their sexual actions instead of taking responsibility for their own actions. The study revealed that human partners get involved with spirit partners some times at birth when their parents dedicate them to spirits for protection or in appreciation for answering their request for the gift of a child. Some get involved with spirit spouses by having sexual relations with a human partner of a spirit spouse e.t.c.

Participants at the session commended the research effort but called for further research into the spirit-spouse belief system to establish facts instead of just pushing it aside as an expression of sexual fantasy of those affected.

By Ogechi Eronini

Don’t Agonize, Organize

2008-02-06T08:24:00.000Z

At the ongoing 3rd Africa Sexuality Conference in Abuja Nigeria, young Africans are demanding to be given their fundamental human rights of which their sexuality rights is one of them.

In a session titled ‘Youth sexual rights, gender based violence and poverty’, African youths represented in the discussion panel by Miss Adiya Atuluku, Miss Esther Agbarakwe and Martin Mary Falana vehemently demanded from African governments and the adult community to treat young people as humans with rights that have to be met and protected.

Adiya Atuluku noted that despite constituting a good percentage of the population of Africa, “young people have limited access to quality information that will help them make informed sexuality choices and lack access to quality heath care when in need. Numerous traditional practices make youths vulnerable to sexual abuse.”

Esther Agbarakwe enumerated the ordeals that young people face due to gender based violence, violent acts against women, trafficking in young women and children and the wickedness of female genital cuttings among others on the sexuality of the African youth and asked “what can we do?”

Martin Mary Falana, the only male in the panel could not hide his anger at the toll that illiteracy, poverty and government lack of committment at addressing these youth challenges are having on the health of the future generation of Africa. “Monies spent on estacodes for politicians is enough to provide motorable roads so that our schools and hospitals can be more accessible but they will not” Falana bemoaned.

What can we do? How can we ensure that our governments and the adult community take the rights of the youths more seriously? How can we better demand our rights? These are some of the questions that resounded in the session venue, begging for answers from both panelists and participants at the session.

Youths were enjoined to take their destiny in their own hands by seeking and sharing information on their rights and on issues that affect them. They were told to volunteer their time and services to their community and organizations around them. Volunteering, it was said will provide youths with the needed space to learn and to express their concerns and above all to be spotted and recognised.

The youths called on government to also live up to its responsibility of protecting the rights of it citizens and meeting the needs of these citizens like good health care among others and to recognize that the youths are bonafide citizens of any nation.

The Action Aid Nigeria deputy country director, the organization that organised the discussion session in her remarks charged youths to “organize rather than agonise. The youths have a number that can not be over looked; if 60 million young people in Nigeria will demand for a thing with one voice, they will certainly be heard.”

By Ogechi Eronini

Conference youth summit debates the definition of ‘youth’

2008-02-05T08:54:00.000Z

The 3rd Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights launched yesterday with a youth summit at Taraba Hall, International Conference Center, Abuja, to bring youth from Nigeria and around the world together and discuss the role of sexuality in young people’s lives.

Laura Villa Torres of IPAS began the summit by welcoming youth delegates to the conference and urging young people to be open and to contribute innovative ideas throughout the week.

A key discussion during the summit was the definition of ‘youth’ and where to draw the line between a young person and an adult. Many youth delegates voiced that considering the age limit of the Institute, what happens to people who are above 24 years of age?

Mrs. Nike Esiet, Executive Director at Action Health Incorporated, Lagos, voiced that the World Health Organization (WHO) defines young people as those between 10-19 years of age, while youth are defined as those between 15-24 years of age. As such, Esiet said that the conference should have a cut-off age for youth participants, because the issues deemed important to someone in their late teens or early 20s will be much different from someone in their early 30s.

Some youth participants then argued that a youth is between the ages of 13 and 35, while some said that being a youth is a ‘thing of the mind’. Others believed that once a persons marries, that person ceases to be a youth, e.g. an unmarried 36-year-old can still be addressed as a youth and a married 23-year-old is no longer a youth.

Delegates agreed that regardless of the proper definition of what a ‘youth’ entails that they would join together learn the problems faced by young people in other African countries, to know the challenges facing young people in the sexuality field, and to join forces with other young people to have their voices heard.

Youth involvement is at the core of the sexuality conference, with side events such as youth sexuality discussions and youth capacity events sponsored by IPPF, IPAS, IWHC, and AHI to promote dialogue between adults and youth on sensitive issues such as sexuality education, sexual violence and abuse, gender roles and traditional practices.

* By Amanda Hale

Conference seeks to integrate HIV/AIDS with sexual health and rights

2008-02-05T08:47:00.000Z

About 500 delegates, with representatives from each of the continents and at least 20 African countries, are expected to attend the four-day conference on Sexual Health and Rights that starts at the ICC in Abuja today. One of the draw cards for the conference, titled Sexuality, Poverty and Accountability in Africa, is the inclusion of some plenary sessions on how to integrate sexual health with HIV and AIDS.

Convenor of the conference Dr Uwemedimo Esiet said that this would be one of the first forums to talk about how to integrate HIV and AIDS with sexual health and rights, and will include ‘how to’ information from prominent HIV-positive women living on the African continent. The third, bi-annual conference on sexual health is aimed at opening and deepening discussions on sexuality on the African continent with a view to assuring a sexually healthy continent, and will explore the multifaceted intersections of sexuality, poverty and accountability.

In response to media questions at a press briefing yesterday, Dr Esiet emphasised that the conference is not an investment in a big jamboree, but rather an investment in the future of Nigeria and the future of the continent. “Every time you stimulate a conversation of this nature, you out with something new,” said Dr Esiet. “This conference is not going to be something new; it is not going to be different – but it will add to our knowledge, behaviour and practices because there are many successful projects in Africa that are worth replicating.”

The conference will also deepen the integration of HIV and AIDS into sexual health, with specific sessions geared towards imparting information of the practical low down of how to achieve integration, not just advocating it.

The conference also plans to raise awareness about the continental agreement between health ministers, known as the Maputo Plan, and to call on people to hold their governments accountable for achieving the planned targets said Dr Esiet.
Cross-learning and networking will be another important outcome of the conference. “If something is working in one African country, with its unique multi-languages, multi-tribes and multi-religions, then with just a little modification it is likely to work in another African country. There is no need to reinvent the wheel,” said Dr Esiet.

* By Sharon Davis

Sexuality Conference: Collaborative partnership with the media enjoined

2008-02-05T08:44:00.002Z

The ignorance of journalists and the unwillingness of healthcare providers to provide the necessary information due to the bureaucratic procedures have been described as the major obstacle to the effective reporting on sexual health and rights issues in Nigeria particularly and in Africa as a whole.

Reporting this observation yesterday in a presentation titled Online Voices: Enhancing the capacity of Nigerian health journalists in reproductive health, STIs and HIV/AIDS at the concurrent session 1 of the 3rd Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights, Nnenna Ike of the Development Communications Network (Devcoms) Lagos reported that the SciPH Journalism Forum was the instrument used in this qualitative research.

The SciPH Journalism Forum with a member strength of 206 journalists from showed through an e-discussion that the barriers to the effective reporting of reproductive and sexual health and rights also include miscommunication by healthcare personnel, perceptions of researchers to publicity, and research funding politics.

To ensure that the media play their expected role well, organized training and retraining of journalists should be a continuous activity in Nigeria. This training must be in the form of mentorship by experienced/veteran health educators, the establishment and maintenance of a link between journalists and healthcare personnel and most importantly having an immersion programme where journalists are embedded in health establishment for a short period of time so that they can understudy the issues involved in the running of the centre. This will ensure that when they make their reports, it is from an informed perspective.

African journalists especially those practicing in Nigeria should be empowered either physically or online. The development partners who are already doing this were enjoined to spread the training amongst both the experienced and the greenhorn journalists to achieve the desired state of reporting sexual health and rights issues. Ike recommended commitment to media personnel development by corporate health organization, more civil society-media dialogue.

* By Nnenna Ike

Women group advocate availability of correct information on medical abortion

2008-02-05T08:44:00.001Z

The alarming number of women who die from complications of unsafe abortion annually was brought to the fore in the presentation made by Women in the Waves yesterday at the concurrent session that held at the African Hall of the International conference centre.

According to Cecilia Costa who represented Women on Waves, Amsterdam, “Globally, approximately 13% of al maternal deaths are due to complications of unsafe abortion. Half of the women who have an abortion are mothers with children.” She maintained that that the number of women who accessed their websites showed that quite a large percentage of women require abortion services. When they do not have this, they resort to unsafe practices which in many cases lead to death.

Women in the Waves website currently has 15, 000 visitors each month with their Helpdesk answering almost 1000 emails per month from women who require information on abortion services. Costa was quick to point that the services rendered were in the form of rending online consultation and counseling sessions to women, and giving them information on the use of drugs which can be procured personally and giving.

From the analysis of the work done so far, 80% of the women who seek their services are between 7 and 9 weeks pregnant while the remaining 20% were less than 7 weeks pregnant. Of these women, 58% of them were usually grateful for the services rendered while 31% though stressed, accepted the service and 1% wished she had never had never had the service.

With only 41.4% of the women knowing about medical abortion before using the services of Women on Web, Costa concluded that increasing access to information and support of self-administration of medical abortions is live-saving.

* By Nnenna Ike

Govt throws weight behind Sexuality Conference

2008-02-05T08:36:00.000Z

President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua’s seven point agenda to making Nigeria one of the world’s top 20 economies by 2020 through the improvement of the health of her citizens was once more highlighted yesterday at opening ceremony of the 3rd Africa Conference on Sexuality health and Rights in Abuja Nigeria.

In a speech at the opening, the Minister of Health, Professor Adenike Grange, stressed that the Nigerian government is geared towards implementing a holistic approach to health through the strengthening of the health care system, advocating of gender equity, implementation of evidence-based approaches to eliminating violence against women and children and intergrating all programmes pertaining to maternal, newborn and child health.

According to her, sexuality issues are at the heart of the millennium development goals; which Nigeria is striving to achieve, she gave as examples: poverty fuelling sexual health diseases, early marriages, limited access to quality information, sexual violence and gender inequality as the sexuality issues which must be tackled effectively.

While commending the Conference theme, - Sexuality, Poverty, and Accountability- Prof. Grange said that the deliberations from the conference would serve as a veritable tool for formulating cost effective measures of promoting sexual health.

While welcoming delegates to the Conference, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin, Director General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) said that Nigeria has reached the stage where the issue of sexuality should be discussed objectively and openly if the situation of HIV/AIDS was to be improved upon.

According to him, “Every issue on sexuality has an impact on every life and thus every economy and HIV/AIDS has as its centre-point the issue of sexuality.”
Osotimehin stated that he hoped that the Conference deliberations would encourage a dialogue that would affect every work in every country in Africa with respect to HIV/AIDS and sexuality.

Goodwill messages were given by representatives of Ford Foundation, UNAIDS, Ipas, IPPF, Packard Foundation, Urgent Action Plan, Amanitare among others.

*By Nnenna Ike

The failure to deliver quality childbirth care in Kenyan health facilities

2008-02-05T08:26:00.000Z

In Kenya, many women would rather deliver their babies at home, with no assistance, no drugs, and no medical equipment, than step foot inside a public or private hospital.

These same women would decide not to seek reproductive health care services, thereby increasing their risk of complications during childbirth and creating a higher maternal mortality and child death rate in the country.

The reason for this attitude among women is not ignorance, lack of information, or traditional values—it is the range of gross human rights violation occurring in Kenyan hospitals and clinics.

Over the years women have reported multiple cases of abuse during delivery, including being called ‘stupid’ by nurses; being cut with scissors to make delivery easier for nurses; being left alone to deliver; being forced to lay on soiled sheets during delivery; not receiving food or water during and after childbirth; having to wait an excessive amount of time for stitching vaginal tears; and being stitched with little or no anesthesia.

One woman working in a delivery ward in Kisumu, Kenya, reported that nurses often cut patients’ vaginas on purpose with scissors so that they could then make money for stitching the women back again. She also remembered nurses using abusive language and violence with patients, telling them to ‘spead your legs the way you did when you got pregnant.’

“You see women being mistreated and not being given their rights and you sympathize, [but] there is nothing you can do,” she later said.

According to Claris Oganga of the Federation of Women’s Lawyers, who spoke to delegates yesterday at the 3rd Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights in Abuja, the reasons for the poor state of health care in Kenya is complex and multi-faceted. Since 2006 Oganga has interviewed a number of women, health care providers, licensing and regulatory bodies, and leaders of medical associations for a joint project of the Federation of Women’s Lawyers and Centre for Reproductive Health. she found that poor access to hospitals, understaffing/lack of institutional support, demoralized health care staff, lack of supplies, unhygienic conditions, and lack of proper record keeping contributed significantly to the bottlenecks in the Kenyan health system.

The Kenyan government also holds part of the blame, with no strong commitment to issues relating to women and reproductive health, especially when considering future health budgets and care programs. There is no Minister of Health in Kenya, and no freedom of information act (though one is being drafted) to allow women to research their rights and seek redress when neglected or abused by nurses and doctors at health care centers.

Oganga recommended that government and non-profit sectors promote and develop policies and legislation that protect the rights of women seeking RH care and ensure sufficient regulation in both public and private facilities, as well as to ratify the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, which explicitly recognizes the right to reproductive health care as key component of women’s fundamental human rights. She also recommended that nurses be trained on gender and human rights issues while still in college to understand the rights of their patients and to realize the impact of their care on expectant mothers.

* By Amanda Hale

Youths urged to be assertive in their views on sexuality and accountability

2008-02-05T08:25:00.000Z

As the 3rd Africa Sexuality Health and Rights Conference kicked off at the International Conference Centre Abuja, Mrs. Nike Esiet, one of the Plenary speakers and the Executive Director at Action Health Incorporated AHI, Lagos reiterated the need for governments to give a listening ear to youth perspectives on sexuality, poverty and accountability. Their correct perceptions and interpretations, according to her, would go a long way in determining the level of their participation in nation building.

Speaking at the end of the Pre-conference Youth summit, which held yesterday at the Taraba Hall of the Centre, Esiet said that the youths in Africa should be aware and conversant of the different instruments available to address the afore-mentioned issues. She maintained that though Nigeria and other African countries are signatories to a number of declarations that concern youths, sexuality, poverty and accountability, their domestication would still not yield the expected results/situation until the youths become knowledgeable of the different instruments available to put them to practise.

Esiet added that the conference would have quite a number of lawyers in attendance, so quality consideration will be given to the issues of the practicability of the local, national, and international instruments for actualising the various declarations.

She finally urged the international youth delegates and those attending from Nigeria to be vocal and to participate actively so as to ensure that they are heard and their opinions are counted.

* By Nnenna Ike

Sexuality health and rights promotion: Men’s active involvement urged

2008-02-05T08:21:00.000Z

Men have been left behind in the move to emancipate and empower women according to Nonofo Molefhi, an MP for population and development in Botswana, who is due to address delegates to the third Sexual Health and Rights Conference in Abuja today.

“I have come to the realisation that while we were focusing on empowering women, we forgot to take the men with us,” said Molefhi at a press conference at the NACA offices in Abuja on Sunday. “Today’s women are not the mothers of yesterday. They are professionals, they take responsibility for themselves and their families – and men feel threatened because some power has been taken away from them.”

MP Molefhi, who is the chair of a special committee on HIV in Botswana, explained that within Botswana men often react violently to the newfound confidence and assertiveness in women, saying it often leads to heinous crimes. Hinting that as far as men are concerned, it is acceptable for the man to terminate a relationship, but not for women to take the first step to end the relationship. This often results in violence, and even murders. Men are generally away from home more than women, and often tend to have more than one partner, but they fail to realise that their wife will feel violated and betrayed, he said.

Molefhi is calling for campaigns not only to embrace women’s rights, but also for campaigns to assist men to come to terms with contemporary society and the goal of gender equality. To achieve this he laid the responsibility at the door of government, saying they should prioritise resources to improve gender equality and also focus on sexual health issues.

The MP said that most of the money spent on sexual health and related activities were in fact donor money. “It is time that the resource came out of our own national budgets,” he said. Molefhi added that following the Abuja declaration, governments are now required to report on how the requisite 15% of health budget is spent.

* By Sharon Davis

The milk of human goodness for mother and child

2008-01-30T14:53:00.000Z

The human milk brings out the goodness in all

There are two major reasons why breastfeeding is important for the mother as well as for the child. One is the nutritional aspect while the other is the psychological aspect. While the nutritional aspect is no doubt very important, that which some think can be substituted, the psychological bonding which develops between the child and the mother is unparalleled and does not have any alternative.

Research has proved that breastfed babies have a healthier start in life because human milk contains a balance that closely matches infant requirements for brain development, growth and a healthy immune system. Since an infant’s immune system is not fully developed until the age of two, the human milk provides a distinct advantage over infant formula. Besides there is an emotional tie between the mother and her baby which begins during pregnancy and increases at birth -this attachment enables parents to make sacrifices for their infant.

Breastfeeding releases a hormone in a woman’s body that causes her uterus to return to its normal size and shape more quickly. Other advantages of breastfeeding for the mother include a reduction of the risk of premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

From a budget standpoint, breastfeeding can save a family a lot of money. This is because it saves the mother from buying infant formula for her baby. With the baby’s immunity boosted from taking its mother’s milk, there is less risk of infection, thus there is a reduction in the frequency of visits to the doctor.

Despite the benefits, not every mother is able to breastfeed. A mother’s health may prevent her from breastfeeding her baby. For example if a woman tests positive to HIV or has the T- cell Leukemia virus type 1, it is advised that the baby should not be breastfed because of the risk of transmission to the child.

Other conditions such as exposure to environmental chemicals, hepatitis C, breast surgery and implants, and metabolic disorder such as galactosemia (a condition in which the infant cannot metabolize lactose) make some mother not breast feed their babies. The use of drugs such as ergotamine, cyclosporine, anti-depressant, anti-anxiety by mothers are not beneficial to babies so mothers should always ask their physicians before continuing or taking new medications while nursing. Tobacco and alcohol use are not recommended because they are present in breast milk and with long exposure would easily affect the nursing baby.

Nearly all women can breastfeed, but many especially first time mothers - do run into problems. It is important to ask for help. Effective feeding can take a number of weeks to establish properly. The most important thing to know about breastfeeding is how to position the baby during a feed. If the baby is in the right position then everything else will follow. Once established most women then find feeding easy and enjoyable.

Breastfeeding however, requires a substantial commitment from a mother. While some mothers feel tied down by the constant demands of a nursing newborn, breastfeeding is not the end of a woman’s independence. Mothers can use pumps to express their milk and leave it for someone else to feed the baby while they go about their usual work activity. Others feel embarrassed or concerned about breastfeeding especially in public places.

Benefits of breastfeeding immediately after birth include protection against infections for the baby, less risk of jaundice and low blood sugar, improved milk production, and less blood loss in the mother
Skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby after birth is important because this has significant effects on infant health. Skin-to-skin means naked body to naked body with no clothes in between.

Other advantages of this first hour initiation is that baby learns feeding skills quicker, it prevents low blood sugar levels in the infant and the mild laxative effect of the colostrum helps in the passage of the meconium - the first blackish stool.

A mother’s body helps to keep the baby warm more effectively than blankets or an incubator. Babies who are kept skin-to-skin with their mothers are more likely to latch on and breastfeed well. Research has shown that the baby is less stressed, is calmer and has steadier breathing and heart rates when they have immediate contact with the mother

* By Adanma Ike

IMNCH: Turai Yar 'Adua commits to saving women and children

2008-01-29T15:10:00.000Z

Picture of the First Lady Haija Turai Umar Musa Yar'Adua with the Minister of Health, Prof. Adenike Grange

That Nigeria has continued to record high Maternal, Newborn and child death rates is no longer news, that the Federal government has developed an Integrated Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (IMNCH) Strategy to strengthen the health system, scale up interventions and maximize impact towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 is also not news.

What is news however is that in recognition of this fact, the first lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Hajia Turai Umar Musa Yar’Adua, recently was made the National Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) in Nigeria. This means she will ensure that MNCH issues will remain on the front burner of the Nigerian national agenda and that come 2015, MDGs 4 and 5 would have been achieved, at least to a larger extent.

With over 100 witnesses ranging members of the National Assembly, Wives of Executive State Governors, Federal Ministers and representatives from both the organised private sector and the developmental agencies in Nigeria, at the investiture, the first lady pledged her total commitment to ensuring that the present alarming rates of maternal and child death are reduced and Nigeria is removed from the MNCH critical list. She looks forward to a time Nigeria would be placed side by side with developed counties on issues of Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

At the event, the Minister of Health Professor Adenike Grange in her paper ‘Maternal, Newborn and Child Health: where are we now?’ made urgent calls to action to the first lady to solicit her support in drawing national attention to the consequences of not keeping the promise to meet the health related Millennium Development Goals. To the National Assembly, Grange’s call was to expedite action on passing the national health bill and other bills that impact on the lives of vulnerable groups, including women and children. The Minister of Health urged the wives of State Governors to advocate, and mobilize resources for the implementation of laws that promote the well-being of women and children in their states.

The civil society was not left out as Prof. Grange called on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and Women Organizations for effective advocacy and community mobilization for the implementation of the interventions at different levels of the society as well as to support monitoring and evaluation of these interventions. The organized Private Sector were urged to adopt communities and health facilities and get involved in the management of these facilities, besides providing incentives including accommodation, water, electricity and motivation for staff.

In closing, Prof. Grange shared with the audience her new concept to bridge some of the major gaps identified in MNCH. This idea is to bring Maternity Waiting Homes on board. The Homes are intended for women with major obstetric complications requiring specialist care such as caesarean section (CS), blood transfusion, treatment of infections, use of specialised drugs for pregnancy induced hypertension. The Homes will also be used by women whose homes are in remote and/or inaccessible areas where health facilities are either not available or inaccessible. In the first phase of the project, a Home will be located in 6 yet to be identified pilot Local Government Areas within the six geopolitical zones.

The accumulation of credible evidence of the high level of maternal mortality, the dismal state of maternal health care in Nigeria coupled with the WHO ranking of Nigeria’s healthcare system performance as one of the worst in the world in 2002 have served to awaken healthcare and other political officials to action.
With the IMNCH strategy in place, people’s expectations is that partnerships will be forged across all walks of life to eliminate the three major delays and ensure: there is adequate information about pregnancy and labour complication signals available for mothers and their partners, adequate access to health facilities including proper citing of facilities, good quality road and communication network and an informed community to ensure adequate community support. Finally, that highly skilled attendants and quality equipment and supplies are provided at the health facilities.

The MDGs and health systems worldwide are watching to see that the first National goodwill ambassador can utilize IMNCH as a tool to make pregnancy safer and cut maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality by half by the year 2014- ten years from now!.

* By Constance Ndubuisi-Enyali

Micronutrients deficiency: Stunting Nigeria’s ‘intellect, strength, and vitality’

2008-01-23T12:18:00.000Z

Over a decade ago, the World Bank publicly announced that vitamin deficiencies deprive one billion people worldwide of their intellect, strength, and vitality. Of this population, pregnant women and children are often and unfortunately the most affected.

During pregnancy and lactation, the micronutrient level for certain micronutrients like iron can substantially affect the outcome of a woman’s pregnancy. After birth, the amount of micronutrients in a woman’s body will impact her ability to provide quality breast milk to her child, which directly impacts a child’s potential for learning and its resistance to infections.

In Nigeria, low micronutrient levels among pregnant women is a leading contributor to infant low birth weight; not only stunting a child’s ability to thrive in childhood and adulthood, but also leading to increased risks for adult chronic diseases.

A major pitch to end this health crisis in Nigeria is the implementation of three low-cost micronutrient programs including food fortification, supplementation and education.

Food fortification by nature is the process of adding vitamins and minerals to a staple food eaten by a majority of the population. During the food processing stage, vitamins and minerals beneficial to child development are added to the staple foods and distributed to the population.

Recent studies in Southern and Western Africa show that adding vitamin A to sugar and vegetable oil can lower the risk and severity of maternal mortality, anaemia, and long-term affects of HIV/AIDS. Just a teaspoon of oil or sugar enriched with vitamin A taken twice a day can boost a child’s immune system and deliver about one-third of their daily needs for vitamin A—potentially saving their lives.

The second step, food supplementation, supplies vulnerable groups, primarily young women and children, with tablets, capsules and syrups enriched with vitamins and minerals. Though an effective method of supplying nutrients, supplementation presents a big challenge of finding a reliable delivery system to reach the most vulnerable and poorest populations.

The third step is educating Nigerians to make small changes in their diets and eating habits to protect themselves—and their children—against vitamin deficiencies. For this task, the Ministry of Health holds a responsibility for educating people about the benefits of food fortification through media campaigns, public health messages, and nutrition education programmes through primary and secondary schools. Private organizations and companies are also responsible for educating the public about the immense benefits of fortification in their advertising and marketing campaigns.

A challenge of this step is that better diets often require better income, and promoting healthier eating is not always easy. Many people prefer to stick to the cheaper foods they are familiar with and resist new additions to their meals. But, according to Carol Bellamy of UNICEF, “It is no longer a question of treating severe deficiency in individuals. It is a question of reaching out to whole populations to protect them against the devastating consequences of even moderate forms of vitamin and mineral deficiency.” For this to happen, an enormous commitment from the government, media, private organizations, schools, and the general public is needed to not only enrich foods with essential vitamins but to change the mindsets of the Nigerian public to embrace the benefits that such food fortification programs could provide.

By Amanda Hale

Contraception as a prelude to quality MNCH

2008-01-23T11:51:00.000Z

Many women are familiar with the better-known barrier contraceptive methods namely: condoms, diaphragms and the cervical cap. With perfect use, combined with spermicide, the pregnancy rates are minimal, but with typical use, the pregnancy rates are much higher. One reason for the high failure rate of barrier methods is their inconvenience and sometimes messiness; these usually make people not to use them regularly. For example, the diaphragm and condom have been said to interfere with spontaneity, is messy and a little uncomfortable.

Different methods of contraception have their individual advantages and disadvantages. There’s no single ‘best’ method of contraception, so a woman has to decide which is most suitable for her. Whatever the situation, there should be a contraception option that works for every woman. For many people, barrier methods of contraception are best, because they not only prevent pregnancy, but also prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases from being passed on during sex.

The hormonal methods are among the most effective contraceptive choices for women. There are two main types of hormonal contraceptive :the contraceptive pill, and the injectable hormonal contraceptive. If used properly, both are extremely effective in providing protection against pregnancy – but they provide no protection at all against sexually transmitted diseases.

The contraceptive pills, also known as the birth control pill is very effective if the pill is taken exactly according to the instructions. The chance of pregnancy occurring is practically nil as long as the pill is taken reularly and at practically the same period each day. A disadvantage of the pill is that it does not provide any protection against STDs. The combination of the birth pill and male condom is a good protection against both pregnancy and STDs.

The contribution of contraception to reductions in obstetric mortality and morbidity is universally acknowledged. One major pathway is by reducing the number of unwanted births. Each pregnancy and childbirth carry a health risk for the woman, and where obstetric services are poor, maternal mortality is still very high.

Contraception contributes to better maternal health beyond its potential to reduce the proportion of births that are unwanted. This depends on the extent to which births averted by contraception would otherwise pose as greater risk to the mother than wanted or intended births. The risks of childbirth are known to vary with the mother’s age and may also be linked to her parity (number of children she has had already) and to the interval since the previous birth. Contraception is likely to change the age pattern of childbearing, particularly by reducing fertility at older ages, and will certainly affect parity-specific fertility.

No particular contraceptive method is right for every woman. Personal beliefs, willingness to risk pregnancy and comfort levels with the various methods vary from woman to woman. But all women have a choice in planning their families according to what's right for them thereby assuring a better quality maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH).

Reported by: Adanma Ike

Third Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights

2008-01-12T11:28:00.000Z

No less than 500 delegates from over 25 countries will come together in Abuja, Nigeria for this year's 3rd Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights. The event from January 3-7 will be held at the prestigious Abuja International Conference Centre and features a keynote address from Elizabeth Mataka, the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy on HIV in Africa.

Convened by Action Health Incorporated (AHI) under the sponsorship of the African Federation for Sexual Health and Rights, the conference will examine the interrelationships between poverty and sexuality and how the issue of accountability affects sexual health and social well-being in Africa. Special attention will be granted to the issue of accountability including fiscal responsibility in sexual health and rights work, ensuring equality of access to sexual health information, participation of target populations in programming, rehabilitation of victims of rights abuses, and the empowerment of disenfranchised and vulnerable populations.

Dr. Uwem Esiet, Convener, African Federation for Sexual Health and Rights, said that the main goal of the conference is to catalyze understanding of sexuality, both within and outside the continent. His words: "It is a singular opportunity to reflect on where we are as far as sexuality is concerned and to assess our personal and organizational accountability to improving our understanding of sexuality."

Reducing maternal mortality is part of the focus of the conference, with presentations on maternal mortality which would enable participants who are interested in reducing maternal deaths to see what has worked in the past and apply these methods in their home countries and communities, while, at the same time, downsizing what has not worked.

"We should not necessarily have to die or suffer as we exercise our sexuality," commented Esiet. "We should stick up for the woman, for the positive sexuality practices that fulfill our lives to procreate safely."

Youth involvement is also at the core of the conference, with side events such as youth sexuality discussions and youth capacity events sponsored by IPPF, IPAS, IWHC, and AHI to promote dialogue between adults and youth on sensitive issues such as sexuality education, sexual violence and abuse, gender roles and traditional practies. Professor Babatunde Osotimehin, Director-General of the Nigeria National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), will lead the range of panel discussions as Conference Patron.

The 3rd Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights is preceded by the 2nd Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights held in Nairobi, Kenya from June 19-21, 2006.

By Amanda Hale

Attacking malaria…tackling the common enemy

2007-12-18T15:27:00.000Z

With malaria being responsible for up to 63% of attendance at health facilities, 30 percent and 25 percent of child and infant mortalities in Nigeria respectively and 11 percent of maternal mortality in Nigeria, the federal ministry of health is pulling all stops at ensuring that the different interventions under the country’s roll-back malaria initiative are properly implemented for maximum impact.

Recognising Malaria as a common enemy to humanity, especially to pregnant women and children, Dr Yemi Sofola, the Coordinator of the Nigeria Malaria Control Programme has called on all tiers of government, countries, partners and stakeholders to take affirmative action to address in a broad based manner the issue of malaria and to collectively make all efforts to eliminate malaria.

While speaking at the national review meeting for malaria programme managers at the picturesque Gateway Hotel in Ijebu-ode Nigeria recently, Sofola stated that the devastating effect of malaria has not only laid a heavy burden on the gaunt health system in Nigeria but has also diverted funding priorities creating huge gaps in our national development.

The Nigerian national malaria control programme is employing a workable and evidence-based framework for the elimination of malaria and this includes; improving prompt and appropriate management of malaria cases; promotion of multiple preventive measures such as the use of Insecticide Treated Nets; promotion of the use of Intermittent Preventive Treatment for pregnant women; development of workable partnership for Health System Development; improvement of monitoring and evaluation including tracking of project implementation and commodities and operational research to increase the evidence base for policy.

As she urged greater commitment of the programme personnel, Sofola commended the programme partners ‘who have stuck with us through thick and thin. We believe that our concerted efforts will definitely yield the successes we have been expecting since the Roll Back Malaria initiative.’

She shared with participants that the meeting was also to enable the programme to commence the process for the development of a new Business that would enable the programme to mobilize the required resources form within and outside Nigeria in order to massively scale up service delivery to have the desired impact.

Sofola opined that with the rising profile of malaria, the current bottlenecks being experienced at the state and local government levels will soon be overcome and the expected output and outcomes of interventions met to halve the burden of malaria by 2010 and a malaria-free Nigeria by 2015.

By Nnenna Ike

Goge Africa’s charity event raises awareness for orphans and children with special needs

2007-12-18T12:32:00.000Z

While most fingers point at the Nigerian government and the health institutions they fund as being the culprits when it comes to the appalling number of women and children who die needless deaths in Nigeria, corporate organisations are pitching in to highlight the need to have better health policies that would ensure that children are born healthy because of the quality of care their mothers had access to during pregnancy and childbirth.

Improving MNCH takes more than government policies and roundtable discussions among policy makers. Though the different tiers of government have an obligation to ensuring the health of its residents, there is an immediate need for effective involvement of organizations at the community levels as a stepping stone for making a difference in the society.

To this end, the Lagos-based organization Goge Africa took the opportunity of the festive season to host a charity event for orphans and children with special needs. Knowing that many children in Lagos do not have the privilege of visiting parks or cultural shows because of their physical challenges, congenital disabilities, and lack of opportunities arising from coming from broken homes, the management of Goge Africa decided to invite them to enjoy a day of dancing and music.

Isaac Moses, the co-director of Goge Africa, while speaking with the Devcoms team stated that this year’s event was part of Goge’s ongoing community support projects meant to bring publicity to MNCH issues such as child development and maternal health.

His words, ’The government should continue to educate women on the need to access antenatal care in clinics so as to prevent child disabilities in the future, they should also endeavour to provide these clinics with the skilled medical staff and equipment.”

According to Moses, “They [the government] are most visible, so I usually mention them first. But organizations have their own responsibilities, too. I find if people aren’t asked to give, they won’t give. So it’s up to organizations like ours to push multinationals to give funds to children.”

The daylong charity event, held at Apapa Amusement Park in Lagos, drew a crowd of children, families, media, non-profit organizations, and government sectors, including the Federal Ministry of Health and UNICEF, who led a health and nutrition workshop for the children. Dance competitions, gift-giving, and cultural performances were among the festivities throughout the event, as well as a visit from the popular musicians the Mamuzee Twins.

By Amanda Hale

Empowering Youths to Drive Nations Forward

2007-12-11T12:15:00.000Z

The growing need for youth involvement in development issues was at the forefront of Nigeria’s agenda last week as Action Health Incorporated (AHI) Nigeria, alongside an array of non-governmental organisations in Lagos met with Donald Floyd, President and CEO of the National 4-H Council, a U.S.-based non-profit organization, in Lagos to discuss partnerships for innovative youth development projects in Nigeria.

The National 4-H Council is the partner of 4-H, one of the United States’ largest youth development programs, which works with the mission to advance youth development movement; building a world in which youth and adults learn, grow, and work together as catalysts for positive change. According to Floyd, youth empowerment can only take place when adults step up and give young people the skills and opportunities to grow personally and professionally.

Youth involvement in decision-making is an important fuel to the social and economic strength of every nation, and should thus be encouraged in every developmental organization. “We need to give young people governance positions,” said Floyd. “Youths should have the power to sit on the board of directors or to make funding decisions within their organization, and also to make important decisions about the development of their communities and country.”

Floyd described his own experience working with four young people on the board of directors for the National 4-H Council. “It was an often painful experience,” he said with a laugh, “but the best strategy was for youths and adults to learn to mentor each other-- sometimes young people knew things we didn’t, and sometimes we knew things that they didn’t.

“It’s all about mutual learning to work together as catalysts for change.”

The meeting took place at a brunch reception hosted by AHI and drew a variety of non-profit organizations from Lagos to discuss the importance of youth empowerment in Nigeria, and how creative partnerships between local, national and international organizations can boost the level of youth projects and youth involvement in Nigeria’s future.

*By Amanda Hale

Creative social marketing can stem unintended pregnancies in Africa

2007-12-06T09:58:00.000Z

In Nigeria, the rise of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases demands a revolutionary approach to social marketing in order to promote positive behaviour among youth. The following story of successful youth social marketing programs in Cameroon, Rwanda, and Madagascar could be applied to Nigeria’s social framework as well. With such a wide range of print, radio, and broadcast journalists pulling together to highlight sensitive and controversial issues regarding reproductive health and safe sex—such as cross-generational sex (sex between older men and younger women)—Nigeria could see a substantial reduction in harmful sexual and reproductive practices.
**

The social learning theory, which categorizes human behaviour in terms of the dynamic interaction between personal factors (knowledge, expectations, and attitudes), behavioural factors (skills and self-efficacy), and environmental factors (social norms, access to information, products and services, and ability to influence others), has been identified as capable of shaping young people’s perception of safe sexual behaviour.

This is based on a study by Population Services International (PSI), which was conducted across Cameroon, Madagascar, and Rwanda. PSI’s theory is based on the belief that individuals learn not only through their own experiences, but also by observing the actions of others and the consequences of those actions. The program concluded that after two years of media interaction with youth on reproductive issues in Cameroon, Rwanda, and Madagascar, that repeated exposure to multiple communication channels is necessary to change youth’s sexual behaviour.

Population Services International (PSI), a US-based non-profit group, implemented youth-oriented programs to prevent unplanned pregnancies and STDs, including HIV/AIDS, among youth between the ages of 15-24 years.

Past social marketing programs in Africa endeavoured to stem the tide of unintended pregnancies and STDs by using donated products such as condoms, and then selling them—attractively advertised under a brand name—in small shops and outlets to low-income shoppers. This encouraged people with low incomes, particularly youth, to buy condoms without fear of social backlash from shopkeepers or friends.

PSI workers took this conventional approach, but added a new twist—based on PSI’s behaviour change framework, which incorporates elements of the most commonly used behaviour change theories, such as the social learning theory, the health belief model, and the theory of reasoned action, PSI used the media to communicate intensively with youth and encourage them to use condoms or abstain from sex. In Cameroon, PSI launched a multi-media program with peer educators, journalists, comic strip artists, radio personalities, and scriptwriters to develop messages in the media, which highlighted experiences of youth who challenged social norms to protect their health. Television and radio advertisements aired repeatedly for four to six weeks and encouraged positive sexual behaviours, such as young women buying condoms to protect themselves from pregnancies and STDs. Additionally the program employed street vendors to sell monthly youth newspapers, called 100 % Jeune Le Journal, to youth around Cameroon. The newsletter included articles about reproductive health, letters from readers and responses from peer educators, sports, music, comic strips, and tear-out colour posters.

By Amanda Hale

Immunization of children: the greatest achievement of all…

2007-12-03T11:16:00.000Z

Immunization: gifting disease immunity to children of all social status

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2007

Experts have reiterated the fact that up to 3 million deaths are prevented yearly and 750, 000 children saved from disability if vaccination services are improved and maintained. The immunization of all children remains one of the greatest achievements of all humanitarian goals.

This assertion was made at the high level 1-day Conference session titled ‘immunization in Nigeria during the just concluded 34th edition of the international Medical Exhibition and Conference held at the Ocean View Hotel, Victoria Island Lagos.

Prof Chris Obionu of the college of medicine, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus Nigeria, gave the presentation for the day titled the ‘Value of vaccine’. According to him, vaccine-preventable diseases/ infections constitute a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. These diseases include: measles, yellow fever, smallpox, poliomyelitis, neonatal tetanus, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and cerebrospinal meningitis. According to him, with future vaccine development, the number of preventable diseases will increase with future.

Though eradication of these diseases is possible through vaccination, there are concerns that vaccine coverage is falling. While a surprisingly large number of people are reluctant to accept vaccinations even when they are given free of charge, some governments view vaccines as a capital intensive venture instead of an investment and thus are reluctant to allocate funds to vaccination programmes. Thus there is no sustainable financial backing for the different vaccination programmes. He also lamented the ignorance of the value of vaccines which leads to squandering of immunization resources.

Outlining the values of vaccine for the individual, Prof Obionu said ‘Three million deaths are prevented yearly and 750,000 children are saved from disabilities. For the community, next to clean drinking water, vaccines are the most effective intervention in reducing and preventing the incidence of infectious diseases. While for the economy of the nation, its benefits are a decrease in: hospitalization, loss of productivity, and need for expensive treatment, permanent disabilities and disease outbreak.’

Prof Obionu maintained that government and individuals need to recognize the value of vaccines and disease prevention. The Government should recognize that a healthy population attracts investments and increase in productivity. He stressed that adequate investment in resources (human, material and financial resources) is needed for effective immunization. Applying the lessons learned from smallpox eradication in the use of other vaccines to fight diseases will enhance the value of vaccination.

He stressed that vaccines must be made available to all people no matter where they are in the world. Vaccines should be as highly valued as pure drinking water. With a motto such as “No vaccination, no achievement of the health-related MDGs”, the government will work harder towards achieving these goals. ‘Living in a world free of polio, and maybe measles, is not a dream. It can actually be realized’, he concluded.

By Adanma Ike.

Fight Against HIV/AIDS Carried To Imams

2007-11-30T11:50:00.000Z

Fight Against HIV/AIDS Carried To Imams

In the continuous and combined efforts at ensuring better public health in Nigeria, the ongoing workshop organized by the Muslims Against Aids (MAIDS) in conjunction with the Public Affairs Section of the United States Consulate General is a major landmark in the fight against HIV/AIDS pandemic in the Nigeria.

‘Protecting the Ummah: Role of the Imam’ is the theme of the 3-day HIV/AIDS workshop.

Speaking at the opening, Ms Mary Lou Johnson Pizarro, Public Diplomacy Officer at the US Consulate reiterated the important role of religious leaders in the effort to reduce HIV infection and the resultant effects of the social stigma. According to her, since HIV/AIDS does not discriminate against everyone based on their race, colour, ethnic tribe or religion, there is a need to ensure that the efforts at its reduction to come from various sectors of the society. She stressed that the Imams will serve as a catalyst for change because of their influential positions in their various communities.

Pizarro said, the US Government will continue to support the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria and also expect that the workshop will serve as an eye-opener for the participants who have ample opportunities of relating and practicing the things they would learn in the course of the workshop.

Capt. M.B. Ahmad, one of the workshop participants said that the role of religious leaders in the fight against HIV/AIDS cannot be over emphasized because of the influence they have over their followers. He lamented the fact that there has always being workshops on HIV/AIDS organized for various groups of people but there has not being any for religious leaders especially the Imams. While lauding the organizers of the workshop, he was optimistic that programme will serve its objectives and expectation and urged for a more regular workshops.

The training for the Imams, which will be the first of its kind in Lagos, Nigeria, has participants from the various local government areas of Lagos. The workshop which is part of activities to mark the 2007 World AIDS Day is expected to end on the 29th of November 2007.

By Akinpelumi Akinlolu