The administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is putting a lot of effort into lowering the high rate of maternal and infant mortality in the nation, according to Special Advisor to the President on Health Dr. Salma Anas-Kolo.
She made this claim yesterday in Abuja during a discussion on the president’s Renewed Hope health agenda with participants from the Association of Nigerian Health Journalists (ANHEJ). At the moment, Nigeria has a 512 per 100,000 live births maternal mortality rate, 38 per 1000 live births neonatal mortality rate, and 67 per 1000 live births infant mortality rate.
According to her, Nigeria is not faring well in terms of statistics, and one of the president’s top priorities for the Renewed Hope health program is to reduce maternal deaths as quickly as possible.
The policy direction of the agenda, according to her, is to lower the rate of neonatal mortality from 38 per 1,000 live births by 40%, the rate of maternal mortality from 512 per 100,000 live births by 35%, and the rate of total fertility from 5.4 by 20%.
Additionally, according to her, it aims to lower the under-5 death rate from 132 per 1,000 live births by 25% and the infant mortality rate from 67 per 1,000 live births by 40%. Dr. Anas-Kolo stated that the idea of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) defines the healthcare reforms and policy agenda.
She further stated that by making universal coverage the administration’s main goal, Nigerians will benefit from increased economic and social development as well as the creation of new jobs.
The eight priority areas of the Renewed Hope health agenda, according to her, are: health finance; public health emergencies, preparedness, and response (PHEPR); human resources for health; health information management, technologies, and research (HIMTR); comprehensive and integrated health service delivery; health manufacturing and local content (including pharmaceutical); and partnership in health.
According to her, the goal of the current administration is to encourage two primary care centers per ward in local government, as opposed to only one. Joseph Kadiri, the president of ANHEJ, stated that the organization is dedicated to maintaining its collaboration with the office of the special adviser on health in order to raise awareness of the administration’s policies and tackle issues facing the health sector.