Posted on: Fri 15-11-2024

A disturbing revelation about child mortality has been made by the National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS), stating that only three of 10 child deliveries take place at healthcare centres, representing 68.9 per cent.

The data indicated that the phenomenon was rampant in Gombe and Taraba states.  According to the figures, in Taraba, 67 per cent of the deliveries take place at home, while five of 10 deliveries in Gombe take place at home.   

Shockingly, the data also showed that only three of 10 children have access to postnatal care in Bauchi and Taraba states, while only half of the infants in Gombe have access to postnatal care. In the three states, NDHS revealed that three of 10 are not accessing immunisation.  

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), by 2030, nations should have reduced the neonatal mortality rate to 17 in every 1,000 births. As of 2023, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia recorded about three per cent. Ghana (21 per cent), Niger (34.3 per cent) and Nigeria (41 per cent).  

Corroborating, a paediatrician with Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), Dr Adah Ruth, said the death of a child is a great loss to humanity, stressing that every child deserves to live, as guaranteed by the Constitution and universally accepted child rights convention.  

Speaking yesterday in Jos at a one-day media dialogue, organised by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Ruth noted that the death of any child is a ‘loss of genetic code” of such a baby, adding: “Every child carries a potential to solve a problem in this life, but losing such baby means missing that potential.”

By  Rauf Oyewole, Bauchi  

Guardian News

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