Lagos Begins Child Health Intervention

As the second round of this year’s Maternal Newborn and Child Health, MNCH, week celebration begins in Lagos State today, the state government says it has designated 729 health posts, made up of 287 fixed posts and 442 outreach posts for the exercise.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Health, Dr Yewande Adeshina disclosed this in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, at the weekend, urging families and caregivers to visit the places along with their under-five children during the week-long celebration to benefit from the services that would be provided. She described exercise  as “high-impact, low-cost maternal, newborn and child health interventions.”

“The maternal newborn and child health week was introduced with an objective of improving the healthcare seeking-behaviour of the whole family, especially mothers and caregivers of children under the age of five years.

“The week is being celebrated with the provision of an integrated, high-impact preventive and promotive services to the whole family and the services include routine immunisation, vitamin A supplementation administration with growth monitoring and promotion as well as screening of under-five children for malnutrition,” she said.

Yewande added that other specific objectives of the celebration are the needs to “promote the utilisation of health facilities by pregnant women, newborn and children, mobilise pregnant women to attend four focused antenatal care visits, deliver tetanus toxoid to eligible women of productive age, provide children 6-9 months with vitamin A, distribute and promote the use of long lasting insecticide treated nets to under-five children, pregnant and lactating women.

“It is thus a week of action for mothers, adolescent girls, caregivers, newborns and under-five children through the existing routine activities.

The plan is to consolidate on the gains recorded in the last round as registration of more births is expected and the practice of birth registration enhanced,” she said.