By AbdulRaheem Aodu
Kaduna
Every 10 minutes a Nigerian woman dies from pregnancy and pregnancy-related complications, while 144 women die from the same cause every day, the United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has said.
Speaking at a two-day workshop for 50 traditional leaders on promotion of essential family practices for social change, child survival and development in selected local governments areas that commenced yesterday in Kachia, Kaduna state, UNICEF representative, Dr Steve Daniel, said “Nigeria records high maternal and child mortality due to various factors that have been neglected in the country over the years.”
Daniel said 1,500 women and adolescent girls die from pregnancy and childbirth, while some 10 million women and adolescent girls experience complications during pregnancy leading to infection and disabilities.
He said pregnant women and children “die unnecessarily from over 50 per cent unskilled health personnel handling childbirth, more than 50 per cent Nigerians drinking from unsafe water, more than 50 per cent Nigerians involved in poor sanitary practice, non-exclusive breastfeeding, poor routine immunisation, poor knowledge of HIV prevention by young people, violence against children, malnutrition and poor feeding of infants young children, among others.”
Director, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Malam Galadima Zubeiru Soba, said the workshop was aimed at tackling the issue of development in the state;
“to brainstorm and interact on health issues that affect community, family, women, children and men.”
“We want to look at health issues that bedeviled us as a reminder and set agenda for action to be taken to tackle the medical, health and development issues in the community and for us to take the family and community to the next level. We want to develop and stopped being categorised as developing country. The challenges are more pronounced in the rural areas where we still have fathers stopping their family from attending the hospital.
“This is why NOA on its effort to ensure that our communities become change agent decided to come up with programme. No amount of programme designed by government or development partners would succeed if the people are not carried along. The result has been that our people don’t take ownership of these programmes and develop efforts to achieve active change on the community and society.”
