The Nasarawa State Government has expressed its commitment to tackling the maternal and child mortality rate in the state. Alh. Ishaku Abari, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, stated this on Tuesday at a workshop organised for stakeholders on the implementation of ‘Saving One Million Lives’ programme in the state. 

 

Abari said that the scheme was a Federal Government health intervention programme which focused on improving maternal, new born and child health as well as prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV. According to him, the programme focuses on improving immunisation coverage, scaling up access to essential medicines, malaria control and child nutrition, among others. He also said it had helped in no small measure in improving the health status of the people of the state.

 

“The state government is committed to tackling maternal and child mortality rate in the state through its various programmes. “We are also committed to ensuring quality healthcare service delivery, thereby improving the health and wellbeing of the people of the state,” he said. Abari, who said that government had invested so much in the health sector for the benefit of the citizenry, called on stakeholders in the sector not to relent in their efforts at ensuring quality service delivery in the state.

 

Also speaking, Dr Dogara Okara, Zonal Coordinator of the programme in the North-Central, commended the state government for its commitment to the reduction of maternal and child mortality in the state. Okara, while analysing the indicators of the programme, lauded the state government for the successes it had recorded, especially in the area of mother to child transmission of HIV and immunisation coverage, among others. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the workshop was attended by the Chief Medical Director, Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia, Dr Hassan Ikrama and stakeholders in the health sector in the state.