A four-day training programme for nurses and other health care givers or maternal and child health was held in Enugu last week.
The programme which fully supports family planning, was a collaborative effort of Rotary International and maternal child health, Rotary Club of Abuja metro, district 9125, Nigeria and Gwinnett County district 6910 Atlanta USA in conjunction with Rotary Club of Trans-Ekulu Enugu Nigeria
The event was declared open by the Executive Governor of Enugu state, Rt.Honourable Ifeanyi Ugwanyi who was represented by the Executive Secretary, Enugu state Primary Health Care Development Agency (ESPHCDA) Dr. George Ugwu.
Other dignitaries at the occasion included Rotarian Robert Itawa past President of the Rotary Club Abuja Metro and chairman grants committee of the project, Chief Clement Okwor, Chief Eric Igweshi and Ifeanyi Ago past presidents of Rotary Club of Trans-Ekulu district 9142 respectively.
In his address, Dr. Ugwu said that Enugu state government was happy to be included in the programme in view of the attention it has accorded issues connected to primary health especially, maternal and child health in the state.
He said that the government of Enugu state has shown high interest on the improvement of the lives of mothers and their child during and after delivery.
He made it clear that the state government through its health agencies have been advising mothers on the issue of family planning, pre-natal, post- natal conditions which has made the state one of the best in that area
Dr. Ugwu who is a consultant gynecologist advised mothers against pregnancy few months after delivery when their body have not recovered from the delivery issue which is a dangerous situation. The ideal thing he said is a year and half or two years after the last pregnancy to avoid complications and other health issues.
Rotarian Itawa the chairman of the grants committee bemoaned the situation in the country where about 12million children are said to be out of school. “This number is bigger than the population of many countries in the world. This means arrested development on those children who will not be counted in developmental plans in this country,” he posited.
He said the reason for the predicament is because their parents were not able to carter for them. “For that reason there were left on the streets and at the end many of them got into social vices and began to torment the society that abandoned them on the streets.”
He said that some of the aims of the intervention is to reduce the pains mothers experience in child bearing issues. Areas of focus for the project are: Support for maternal and child bearing, To reduce maternal and infant mortality/mobility, Encourage child spacing, Enhance the health of mother and child and finally Enhance the economic and empowerment of the family.
He said Enugu state was chosen as one of the eight states and 145 hospitals in the 3 geo-political zones of the country slated to benefit from the project “Because of the relationship between us and the Trans-Ekulu Rotary Club in Enugu.”
Rotarian Itawa further said that part of the aim of the project is to sensitize women in those states on maternal and child birth issues. Others are advocacy for women to adopt family planning methods, train doctors, nurses and mid-wives on modern commodities and service providers for contraceptives among other issues.
He said that research has shown that access to family planning which allows women to space their pregnancy at least two years apart has reduced maternal deaths by 30% and neo-natal death by 10%.
Earlier in his welcome address chief Okwor, praised the sponsors: Global grants and other facilitators for choosing Enugu state as one of the beneficiaries. He pointed out that Rotary club of Trans-Ekulu has been doing various programmes and projects on family planning, maternal and child health and called for more collaborative efforts in this regard.
