By Muhammad Amaan
Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, has pledged to resume free maternity services and the distribution of welcome packages to new-borns in public health facilities, in effort to reduce maternal and new-born mortality in the state.
Governor Yusuf made this known on the last day of the recently concluded five-day workshop on the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII) in the state.
MAMII, a federal government project on reducing maternal mortality in Nigeria, was activated in Kano last week.
In a statement issued by the Information Officer of the state’s Ministry of Health, Ibrahim Abdullahi, the project was a strategic plan to reduce maternal mortality through intensified intervention in 172 priority Local Government Areas across the six geopolitical zones, which Kano State emerged the highest with 18 LGAs.
At the workshop, the state governor, represented by the Commissioner for Health, Dr Abubakar Labaran, reassured the residents of his commitment to overcoming maternal and new-born mortality.
Dr Labaran further announced his approval of a monthly distribution of kits worth millions of naira free to pregnant women in over 60 health facilities and 63 primary healthcare centres across the state.
He added that the government has also introduced free caesarean sessions to pregnant women who develop complications during pregnancy to reduce maternal mortality.
The governor stated that the workshop has paved the way for the government to conduct research into finding out the root causes of maternal and new-born mortality in the 18 affected LGAs and the state.
Governor Yusuf decried the rate of zero-dose immunisation and the high burden of diphtheria, stating that they contributed to the maternal mortality rate in the state.
He further lamented that only 30 per cent of women in Kano State deliver in the hospitals, noting that this was another factor contributing to the high MMR, calling on pregnant women to register for their antenatal and deliver at hospitals.
The governor noted that an overhaul of health facilities to meet the universal health coverage was ongoing.
He further assured the Ministry of Health that the handed-over document would be studied and its recommendations implemented as effectively as possible to proffer solution to maternal mortality in Kano with support from the development partners.
On his part, Dr Labaran, stated that the health ministry would work closely with the relevant MDAs to upgrade access roads to ensure maternal and newborn mortality was overcome in the state.
