Ondo State fights Maternal and Infant Mortality

Ondo State Government has packaged part of its malaria control strategy into its Safe Motherhood Abiye programme to further reduce maternal and infant mortality in the state.

Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dayo Adeyanju, said this in Akure, the state capital, while addressing journalists on the 2012 World Malaria Day.

He explained that under the new arrangement, health care givers on the Abiye programme would now monitor the use of Insecticide Treated Nets distributed to all pregnant women and nursing mothers in the state.

He said the state government had few months ago distributed over one million nets to pregnant women and nursing mothers under its Roll Back Malaria scheme to guard against mosquito bites.

Adeyanju said the need to monitor the correct usage of the nets informed the decision of his ministry to involve the health care givers under the Abiye programme to visit the women regularly in their homes to monitor their level of compliance.

He said, “The health rangers will not only monitor the condition of the pregnant women, the nursing mothers and the under-five babies in their areas of coverage, they will also monitor their compliance with the use of the treated nets.

“The nets were given to the women free to prevent mosquito bite that could cause malaria. It is better and cheaper to prevent malaria instead of treating it.”

The commissioner also said that no fewer than 22 nongovernmental agencies were currently working with his ministry to sensitise local women, particularly in the rural and riverside communities in the state on the correct usage of the nets.

Meanwhile, wife of the Ondo state Governor, Mrs. Olukemi Mimiko, watched the delivery of a set of twins at the venue of her monthly Gbebiro programme with community women in Ikare Akoko.

A 29-year-old pregnant woman went into labour in the middle of the meeting and Mimiko’s wife provided urgent support for her through her mobile health team and a nongovernmental organisation, the Maternal Pulse.

The ambulance on the convoy of the governor’s wife was driven to the venue and within minutes, Mrs. Ajimo Ogunsusi, a yam seller, gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl.

The woman and her babies were later taken to the State Specialist Hospital, Ikare Akoko, for a comprehensive health care.

Mimiko who expressed joy at the birth of the twins, attributed the timely intervention to the Abiye programme of the state government.

She explained that delivery of babies could now take place inside a tricycle ambulance, boat ambulance and even four-wheel vehicle ambulances.

Meanwhile, a former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Alani Akinrinade, and the National Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress, Chief Gani Adams, have commended the Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, for transforming the state.

The two Yoruba leaders noted that Mimiko’s government had made significant impact on the lives of the people, and urged the citizenry not to allow outsiders to infiltrate the state’s polity.

The duo, according to a statement by the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Kayode Akinmade, gave the commendation when they visited Mimiko at the Governor’s House, Akure.