WIN US A TRUCK AND HELP OUR CAUSE!

My name is Tolu Omooba Akinboye. I am an Animal farmer with a farm in Ogun/Osun State where I breed organic pigs, and poultry.

Although a very busy farmer, I make out time to give back to my community by volunteering with various charities involved in improving healthcare results and statistics in Nigeria. In 2009, I volunteered with a Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) focused on reducing Maternal and Infant death in Nigeria and my work with this NGO was a great eye opener for me.

Maternal mortality rate (MMR) is the annual number of female deaths per 100,000 live births from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy or its management (excluding accidental or incidental causes). The MMR includes deaths during pregnancy, childbirth, or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, for a specified year

Maternal health is a critical topic in global development. Maternal ill health and death impacts families, communities, and societies and has far reaching effects across socio-economic strata. Despite recent data showing a positive turning point in the battle to keep mothers alive through pregnancy and childbirth, 342,900 women die each year from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.
Every year, more than 133 million babies are born, 90 per cent in low and middle income countries.
Every year, three million babies are stillborn. Almost one quarter of these babies die during birth. The causes of these deaths are similar to the cause of maternal death: obstructed or prolonged labour, eclampsia, and infection such as syphilis.
Among the 133 million babies who are born alive each year, 2.8 million die in the first week of life and slightly less than one million in the following three weeks.

Nigeria
Maternal mortality rate: 840 deaths/100,000 live births (2008)
Nigeria’s maternal mortality rate is at an unacceptably high level. It is estimated that one in eight women die yearly of pregnancy-related complications.
Nigeria has the second highest rate of maternal death in the world: In Nigeria, approximately one plane load of pregnant women die every day!; with an estimated 608 deaths per 100,000 deliveries, Nigeria ranks second only to India in the list of nations with the worst child mortality.
Every Nigerian is only four (4) persons away from knowing someone that died from child birth alone!!
Women in Nigeria still have an average of six children each, and, according to the 2008 edition of the Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey, 20 per cent of married women of reproductive age want to space or limit births, but are not using any method of family planning.
The low usage of family planning services calls for greater private health sector involvement to complement the Nigerian government’s effort in providing family planning and reproductive health services to its citizens.
In the Northern part of the country, VVF is very common mostly due to lack of the care needed during pregnancy. And when this occurs their system becomes damaged; carrying out their daily activities becomes difficult. Worst of all is that most husbands leave their wives to suffer the pain alone without providing the care they need.
Nigeria is still battling to achieve regular power supply in the 21st century, a time where virtually every activity of man has gone digital and most hospitals are not excluded from this reign of darkness. Some women are operated upon using candles or kerosene lamps in the theatre.
Most maternal deaths are avoidable, as the health care solutions to prevent or manage the complications are well known.
Therefore, for Nigeria to achieve an accelerated success in improving maternal health, quality health system and barriers to access health services must be identified and tackled at all levels, even down to the grassroots. Proper education should be adequately given to pregnant women on how to take care of themselves during pregnancy.

I also realized in the course of my work that a sizeable percentage of maternal and infant death could be averted if pregnant women and mothers were empowered with information. Yet in Nigeria there remains a low level of information dissemination to pregnant women and nursing mothers especially in rural areas; healthcare information that could assist these women in improving their health, the health of their children and subsequently their survival rates.
On this basis, I and a group of like minded young Nigerians created the Advocacy for Maternal and Infant Health in Nigeria (AMIHIN). AMIHIN is a non-profit making NGO created with the objective of reducing maternal and infant mortality in poor communities in Nigeria by providing relevant healthcare information and best practice updates to pregnant women and mothers in these communities.
The AMIHIN team comprises of medical and healthcare professionals, lawyers and other career professionals who are intent on contributing to the improvement of Nigerian maternal and infant mortality statistics.
AMIHIN projects currently include:
1. Collation of maternal and infant mortality causal data across the various states in Nigeria.
2. Provision of up-to-date maternal and child care information to pregnant women and mothers using traditional storytelling and cultural dance troupes in communities all over Nigeria. The tour will also include medical professionals who will be on hand to answer questions and provide practical advice
One of the main concerns we have had so far in the course of these projects has been transportation.
I have entered the Ford Ranger Challenge in the hope of winning a Ford Ranger truck which will serve not just as a means of transport on my farm but also a tool for transporting AMIHIN materials and personnel across the country in the course of our various projects.

AMIHIN is my passion and the project I now devote a lot of my time to. The Ford Ranger truck is more than a truck for a simple farmer; it is to us at AMIHIN a truck to facilitate the reduction of maternal and infant mortality in Nigeria.
Help our cause!!
Please Vote Tolu Omooba as Ford Challenge Winner. Go to the link:http://www.fordrangerchallengessa.com/contests/showentry/1011431

Follow us on twitter @amihn2000
For more details or to discuss our work, send a message to us at: amihn2000@gmail.com

Greece 53.5% Debt Write-down: Nigeria and Africa can do better

Nigeria received 18 percent write-down on her 2006 debt payment, Greece received 53.5 percent



History was made when the highly indebted Greece received 53.5 percent write down restructuring on her initial debt deal from its sovereign bondholders. The struggling southern European nation "Greece implemented the biggest debt write-down in history ... swapping the bulk of its privately-held bonds with new ones worth less than half their original value. Although the exchange will keep Greece solvent and at the receiving end of billions in international rescue loans, markets were underwhelmed amid fears that the country's debt load still remains far too heavy,” Associated Press reported.

To enforce the debt swap the application of collective action clauses was utilized to approach the rate of 95.7 percent as was confirmed by Greece finance department. The Greece bond holders will be losing 53.5 percent of the face value of the original bonds. As this deal went through it will lower Greece debt by $190 and prepare the country for the second round European bail-out.

Bloomberg stated that "Holders of at least 60 percent of the Greek bonds eligible for the deal, including Greece’s largest banks, most of the country’s pension funds and more than 30 European banks and insurers including BNP Paribas SA and Commerzbank AG (CBK), have agreed to the offer. That brings the total to at least 125 billion euros ($166 billion), based on data compiled by Bloomberg from company reports and government statements."

Associated Press further reported that the scope and dimension of the deal was made known by statement issued by Greece Finance Ministry that the “bonds issued under Greek law with a total face value of €177.2 billion ($232.5 billion) were exchanged. A smaller batch worth €28.5 billion, issued under foreign law or by state enterprises, will be swapped in coming weeks."

Nigeria during her exit from 2006 Paris Club of Creditors was granted a merely 18 percent write down for her $36 billion she owned to mostly European creditors. At the end of deal Nigeria paid almost $(15-20) billion to pay off the debt. The international media made sure that every person and hamlet heard about the 'wonderful and generous’ news on how Nigeria has been offered a great helping hand from the Paris club of Creditors. The only one thing that was missing on the news report was the original principal amount Nigeria owned and the subsequent higher interest rates and arrears that made it possible to transfer such an enormous wealth to the foreign syndicates.

Greece is not by any means a third world nation, it has modern infrastructures and her people are relatively secured. Greece has 24 hours electricity, clean and treated drinking water gushing out from the water pumps, paved roads together with well paid, trained and equipped police force that maintained peace and order. Greece has political stability and security that made it possible to attract investors. All things being equal, why was Greece given this enormous write down and Nigeria a relatively poor and third world country was not given a quantifiable break that will make a difference in the lives of average Nigerians?

At the time Nigeria was convinced to transfer almost $20 billion to first world and developed nations mostly in the continental Europe, seventy percent of Nigerians were living in penury poverty and depravity surviving with less than $1 per day. The ugly head of AIDS/HIV virus was enveloping the nation and the healthcare facility was in dire straits. Nigeria's high infant mortality rate was among the highest in the world averaging 200-300 per 1000 live births. Nigerian educational system was in shambles and teachers' salaries in most cases were insufficient and were rarely paid on time. There was and still poor security, the protection of lives and property were minimal. Yet with all these wellbeing abysmal indices Nigeria received only 18 percent write-down even with the ever and continuous servicing of the debt from time immemorial.

Many of these nations in southern hemisphere especially in Africa have to qualify as a Heavily Poor indebted countries (HPIC) before they can receive debt relief and write down. Many African nations that were struggling to pay their debts were saddle with austerity measures before they qualifying for HPIC and these stringent conditions and criteria are back breaking. The prescriptions have more deadly than the disease - those conditional ties leave them poorer with infant industries porous to protection, less productive, weaken currencies and in financial shambles. But Greece has not even implement its own austerity measures before she received almost 53.5 percent write down on its first debt deal.

To further compensate Greece for mustering the courage to make debt deal, IMF just approved euro28 billion ($36.56 billion) for Greece. The European Investment Bank (EIB) will soon be putting a finishing touch to disburse $1.31 billion to Greece.

The goodies are still flowing into Greece, Reuters reported, “Greece averted the immediate threat of an uncontrolled default on Friday, winning strong acceptance from its private creditors for a bond swap deal which will eat into its mountainous public debt and clear the way for a new bailout” and now "With euro zone ministers set to approve the 130 billion euro ($172 billion) rescue."

International Monetary Fund (IMF) was quite impressed with the just concluded deal made by Greece that was why it approved euro28 billion ($36.56 billion) in the absence of austerity measures that suppose to come when Greece will make its second debt deal. IMF is now logical even patient and benevolent to Greece. But IMF did not have any qualms counseling Nigeria to remove fuel subsidy for a nation that barely provide any social program to its masses. IMF did not see anything wrong for a poor country with over 170 million population to make a payment that was too perplexing for a nation struggling on how to feed its bulging poor population.

There was a back drop that probably made it possible for Greece to successfully complete the debt deal. Last December the energetic and trail blazer Mario Draghi, the head of Europen Central Bank (ECB) lower the interest rate to 1 percent and pumped in 500 billion euros into the euro zone monetary base. At the interest rate of 1 percent ECB has just started to play a vital role in eurozone's monetary policy and this is a gutsy role for once a low key and timid ECB. With problem of liquidity solved, the solvent banks and private financial institutions were ebullient and energetic to participate in adjusting the economic wellbeing of eurozone.

This is how Reuters put it: "Mario Draghi, 64, has taken the helm of the euro zone's most important institution in the midst of Europe's deepest financial crisis since World War Two. He faces a seemingly impossible mission: satisfying German demands to focus on the ECB's main mandate of ensuring price stability, while at the same time dealing with market and political pressure from other countries to steer Europe out of a debt crisis that has engulfed Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and even his native Italy. The back-to-back rate cuts took the euro zone's interest rate to a record low of 1.0 percent. But they also sent a clear message that Draghi's ECB would be decisive, pragmatic and prepared to ignore its powerful German contingent."

The point must be succinctly made that no one is suggesting that Nigeria and African nations not to deleverage their debts and fulfill their financial obligations. Greece has shown that the private sector and international financial institutions could be logical when they deem it necessary. Africa also deserves same treatment.

Emeka Chiakwelu is the Principal Policy Strategist at Afripol Organization. Africa Political and Economic Strategic Center (Afripol) is foremost a public policy center whose fundamental objective is to broaden the parameters of public policy debates in Africa. To advocate, promote and encourage free enterprise, democracy, sustainable green environment, human rights, conflict resolutions, transparency and probity in Africa. http://afripol.org. strategist@afripol.org


http://www.groundreport.com/Business/Greece-53-5-Debt-Write-down-Nigeria-and-Africa-can/2945065

Mobile Maternal Health Programme: Global One 2015 in Nigeria

Global One 2015's mobile maternal health programme, which serves pregnant women, mothers, children under five and the gynaecological problems of women between pregnancies and older women, is currently operating in Delta state, in southern Nigeria. The programme is being delivered locally by the Red Cross. The focus of the programme is on at-risk rural women with significant obstacles that prevent them receiving maternal healthcare for antenatal, child birth and post-child birth (puerperium) stages, as well as between pregnancy gynaecology care. By at-risk is meant women with symptoms and/or other features that make it likely for them to die in pregnancy, child birth, or after child birth, or to have severe ill health (severe morbidity), and to equally risk the death of the unborn child or predispose the child to ill health and/or death after birth. The programme will identify these women and get them the specialised healthcare they require. The programme is a pilot, which will be scaled up depending on the willingness of new donors to come on board for an extended programme.


http://go2015.blogspot.com/2012/03/mobile-maternal-health-programme-global.html

How the developing world is using cellphone technology to change lives

Many places are jumping straight from paper records to mobile information because they are getting cellphone towers before Internet connections or even traditional phone lines. A man makes a phone call at a calling centre on top of the Bisie mine in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.

LUCAS OLENIUK/TORONTO STAR
Tim Alamenciak


In Nigeria, a young girl can ask questions about sex discretely through SMS and get accurate information.

After the earthquake in Haiti, survivors in remote towns could receive money for food straight to their cellphone.

In Senegal, election monitors sent updates on polling stations through their mobile phones, revising an online map in real time with details about late openings or worse.

Projects like Learning about Living in Nigeria, MercyCorps in Haiti and Senevote2012 in Senegal are just a few examples of how the rapid spread of mobile technology has changed life in the global south.

Many places are jumping straight from paper records to mobile information because they are getting cellphone towers before Internet connections or even traditional phone lines. This means that for the first time it’s possible for a doctor in Guatemala City to monitor a newborn baby in a rural part of the country.

“People who never had access to information can get to a telecentre or a computer at their church or they have a mobile phone even if they share that mobile phone with their whole family and everyone just has their own SIM card,” said Revi Sterling, director of Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD) graduate studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

“If that’s your data collection tool instead of papers that get blown away and eaten by goats, that’s valuable,” said Sterling.

Sterling founded the master’s program in 2010 to help produce students who could capitalize on the boom of connectivity in the developing world. It focuses on building connections between the world of technology and the world of development — something many see as a lucrative opportunity.

In 2001, just eight out of 100 people in the developing world had a mobile phone subscription. Now, nearly 80 out of 100 do.

In India, more people have access to cellphones than toilets, according to a 2010 report from the United Nations University.

“I have lots of students who come from an engineering and science background who say, ‘But you can’t eat (network) cable and you can’t drink YouTube,’” said Sterling. “The idea that you could ride the development wave on an emerging trend like technology certainly makes the technology a really indispensable tool.”

AID

FrontlineSMS

This software allows anyone to set up their own communications hub to send mass messages, manage automated SMS systems and collect data from the field. FrontlineSMS allows users to connect their mobile phone to a computer, transforming communication into something more powerful and manageable.

“If you go to the developing world and you look at how cellphones are being used you can really see that people are already doing this kind of organizational management, communicating with stakeholders, communicating with people they’re working with and for,” said spokesperson Laura Hudson.

The system enables easier management of SMS messages and also allows users to set up mailing lists, collect data and code automated reply systems. Traditional procedures involved checking in over the phone with remotely dispersed members of, for example, an aid team.

“Instead of that they can send an SMS. It’s cheaper for them, it saves time and the data can go straight into their report,” said Hudson.

FrontlineSMS was used to coordinate aid response after the 2011 floods in Pakistan and to manage reconstruction in Haiti. It has also been used to remind HIV patients of best practices and nutritional information.

Ushahidi

This project came as a result of post-election violence in Kenya in 2008, when high mobile penetration met a need to know where trouble spots were located. The original idea was to produce a map of violent areas based on reports sent in by citizens via SMS or email. The system has evolved into an open-source platform to be deployed anywhere. Ushahidi has been used to map everything from earthquake damage in Haiti to blizzards in New York. A site called Crowdmap runs the Ushahidi software and allows anyone to sign up and create their own crowd-sourced map without the hassle of using their own server.

Refugees United

This project is designed to help refugees reunite with their friends and family. It replaces traditional forms of reconnection, allowing anyone to create a free profile with as much or as little information as they’re comfortable releasing. The profiles allow friends and family members to search under certain criteria, including given name, nickname, village or city of origin. The software works from both computers and internet-enabled phones.

NextDrop

One of the challenges with water delivery is predicting when the pipes are going to be opened. In many places this means lineups at the wells, often lasting hours or even days. Being tested in rural India, NextDrop alerts people via SMS 30-60 minutes before the water is turned on.

FINANCE

MercyCorps

In Haiti, where 85 per cent of the population has a cellphone but only half has a bank account, MercyCorps deployed a new way to stimulate the economy after the earthquake: mobile payments. MercyCorps has dispensed more than $1 million (U.S.) to 6,000 people in rural Haiti — all using their cellphones.

“We pretty early on recognized that mobile was a great tool for (reaching more people) and also a direct channel into the communities where we work,” said Cameron Peake of MercyCorps.

Peake’s team is now working on a mobile savings system in the Philippines.

“The financial services area is really a promising and strong area to see financial sustainability,” said Peake.

M-Pesa

This system allows Kenyans to use their cellphones to send and receive money. It is designed for people who don’t have bank accounts, enabling them to receive money domestically or from abroad and to pay bills. At its most basic, M-Pesa allows one user to send money to another as simply as sending a text message. The service is wildly popular in Kenya — it processes more transactions domestically than Western Union does globally, according to the International Monetary Fund. Founded by Safaricom and Vodafone, M-Pesa recently introduced M-KESHO, a savings account to complement the service.

Boom

This software does one thing — allows for easy money transfer between countries using mobile phones. It costs less than typical wire transfer services. Once the link is established and software registered on both ends, someone in the United States could send money to someone in Mexico with a simple text message. Currently the service works in Mexico and the U.S., with Haiti planned for future rollout.

AGRICULTURE

iCow

Using SMS, the app tracks a cow’s gestation cycle and gives farmers notifications at key moments in a cow’s life. iCow allows farmers to optimize milk production and better monitor calving periods.

“It’s a little more unique in that there are lots of price apps but iCow gets down to the nitty-gritty, like the gestation period of a cow,” said Sterling.

Based out of Kenya, the app also helps farmers keep accurate and permanent records of milk production and breeding. It offers tips on farming dairy cows.

In a June 2011 pilot, farmers using the iCow app reported a 42 per cent increase in income on average.

The app also features a directory of veterinarians and a call centre that allows farmers to get advice. A recently released feature called iCow Soko allows farmers to trade livestock directly with one another.

CocoaLink

Cocoa farmers in Ghana can get a helping hand through CocoaLink, a mobile app that delivers advice and allows rural farmers to have their questions answered without leaving the field. It is a partnership between Hershey’s, the World Cocoa Foundation and Ghana’s Cocoa Board.In Ghana, two out of three cocoa farmers have access to a mobile phone. The program is in its pilot phase, but there are already plans to extend the service to the Ivory Coast.

mFarm

mFarm helps farmers in Kenya by relaying market prices through SMS. The software is designed for small-scale farmers who can’t make it to the major marketplace and risk being lied to by middlemen. The app retrieves prices from five major markets, allowing farmers to determine the best prices for their goods.

NAFIS

National Farmers Information Services is a service provided by the Kenyan government that gives farmers tips and advice on anything from ostrich farming to beekeeping. The service provides information in both English and Kiswahili through an automated telephone line. NAFIS also maintains a website containing this information as well as commodity price information.

GOVERNANCE

Senevote2012

The 2012 Senegal election saw a new kind of monitoring develop — independent, observant and connected through mobile technology. A group of people in Senegal have been monitoring elections since 2000, but this year they were dispatched with a mandate to report their findings immediately.

“It’s a very slow process traditionally. What we did was we took their process, we didn’t change it at all and we just said what we can do here is put a very simple coding system in,” said Jeffrey Allen, program coordinator with Mobile4good.

Since the monitors all had cellphones, it was just a matter of training them to use the system and send updates to the data collection and mapping software.

The map highlights both successes and failures, indicating where polling stations opened early or late, and other violations. It has the benefit of providing immediate accountability, but the data is also more easily assessed than if it were recorded on hundreds of sheets of paper.

“On the one hand, (the observers are) an alert for immediate issues. On the other hand, they’re data collection for the bigger picture so that at the end of the day, the civil society team can look at the data in total, look at everything that happened in the election, and make a pronouncement whether everything was free and fair or not,” said Allen.

The group is planning on employing the same technology in the upcoming runoff elections March 25.

Samadhan

A system is being piloted in India that allows people to file complaints about their government using SMS. The complaints are logged and filed according to their location and type. Once the complaints are registered, the person receives a tracking number and the local government deals with the complaint. The system is currently being tested in the Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh, outside of Bhopal, and Koraput district in Orissa.

uReport

uReport is a polling and citizen journalism organization that runs on SMS. Ugandans can respond to polls or text their stories to uReport. The group gathers this information and passes it along to radio and television stations, also publishing polls on its website. The poll results are available on a map. For example, a Jan. 31 poll asked uReport members if they knew female circumcision was illegal. About 76 per cent responded “yes.”

HEALTH

Learning about Living

Youth in Nigeria face strong opposition when it comes to learning about their own sexual health. Mobile4good, the company behind Learning about Living, allows them to discretely seek advice through SMS messaging. The service launched in 2007 and has received more than 400,000 messages.

“We realized there’s a serious problem with HIV/AIDS and with adolescent pregnancies and abortions — sort of clandestine abortions. A lot of this came from a lack of awareness among young people of how to protect themselves as they were reaching puberty and coming of age in that way,” said Mobile4good’s Allen.

Live operators trained in sexual health education answer the text messages.

“It’s not that they didn’t want to know how to protect themselves, it’s that they didn’t have any access to information,” said Allen.

The project has since been expanded to Senegal and the team is working on deploying it in Morocco.

TulaSalud

This project in Guatemala uses technology to help better equip nurses in remote areas in an effort to reduce the infant mortality rate. Its software products allow nurses to track patient data over long periods of time, replacing the need for stacks of charts and forms. The service also offers free phone numbers that practitioners and patients can call to get answers about their health. The project is supported by the Canadian Tula Foundation.

Childcount+

This software allows medical professionals to use their mobile phone to monitor the health of young children and babies. It allows each child to be registered and their data to be tracked electronically, providing valuable insight into their health. The system uses SMS messaging to track specific data about the children and monitor for malnutrition, malaria and other diseases. The software is used at Millennium Villages projects across sub-Saharan Africa.

Txtalert

This simple app can make a profound difference in someone’s life, providing reminders when treatment is needed. Anti-retroviral therapy was the original purpose, though the software can be customized to work with any regular treatment or to remind patients of scheduled appointments. The software is free and open source, allowing any medical clinic to use it.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1150416--how-the-developing-world-is-using-cellphone-technology-to-change-lives

Countdown update fosters country accountability, supports Global Strategy

As follow-up to the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, Countdown to 2015 released Accountability for Maternal, Newborn & Child Survival: An update on progress in priority countries, with updated profiles on high-burden priority countries that account for over 95% of maternal and child deaths. The report will be launched at the 126th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which takes place in Kampala, Uganda from 31 March through 5 April 2012.

The profiles in this publication highlight how well each country is doing in increasing coverage of high-impact interventions that can save the lives of millions of women and children. The core indicators included in these updated profiles, selected in 2011 by the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health, encompass key elements of the reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) continuum of care. The report also includes a brief report providing a snapshot of progress on these core indicators across the priority countries, revealing promising news as well as challenges that still remain to be addressed.

Countdown to 2015 is contributing significantly to the global accountability agenda around the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, an unprecedented plan to save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015, which was launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in September 2010. Countdown’s key role in fostering accountability consists of:

Preparing Countdown profiles focused on the Commission’s indicators—the profiles published in this report will be updated every year with new data and results
Producing global-level analyses, reports, and cross-cutting research on coverage and its determinants
Conducting special analyses to address accountability questions—Countdown research will inform the work of the independent Expert Review Group (iERG), appointed by the Secretary-General to report annually on progress in implementing the Commission’s recommendations regarding reporting, oversight, and accountability
Supporting country-level Countdown processes that include national consultations, workshops, or publications utilizing Countdown data and methodological approaches—Countdown will publish a toolkit to assist countries in implementing their own Countdown processes later in 2012
The country profiles in this publication, customized to showcase the Commission indicators, are adapted from the full, two-page Countdown country profile, which Countdown produces on a roughly two-year cycle. Full country profiles will be included in Countdown’s 2012 Report, which will be published in June 2012.

http://countdown2015mnch.org/media-centre/2012/accountability-update

Nigeria: Bauchi Employs All FG Midwives

By Ruby Leo

The Bauchi State government has employed the 144 midwives posted to the state under the Midwives Service Scheme programme (MSS) initiated by Federal Government to reduce maternal and child death in Nigeria.

The minister of state for Health Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate disclosed this over the weekend while commissioning a completed General Hospital in Bayara, Bauchi State.

Pate commended Bauchi State for its progress in the health sector acknowledging it as one of the few state's that have employed all Midwives posted to them.

He said: "Bauchi State is a very committed partner and I want to commend the State Government for all the good work they have been doing in various area of development more particularly in the area of health. There is progress in infrastructure, vehicles, welfare of staff in the health sector with the implementation of the CONHESS and recruitment of the 144 midwife posted to the State Government."

"Bauchi State is one of the few state that recruit all the 144 midwives that were posted to them this is very commendable". He stressed

Governor Isa Yuguda, represented by the Deputy Governor Alh. Sagir Aminu Sale, said that the hospital was constructed based on the request made by people in the community.

According to him, efforts to improve the health sector include, de-centralization of the Ministry of Health for greater efficiency and effectiveness in the healthcare delivery,

He said that four Agencies were created namely Hospital Management Board, Primary HealthCare Development Agency, Bauchi State Agency for the control of AIDS/TB and Malaria, and State National Health Insurance Scheme (SHIS).

Earlier the state's commissioner for health, Dr. Sani Abubakar Malami said that the State Government has sponsored 364 health professionals to study all over the country adding that they are already employed.

He said: "The Government of Bauchi State, under a special arrangement has sponsored a total of 38 students and 6 others to study medicine in Egypt."

http://allafrica.com/stories/201203200516.html

Polio Eradication Initiative

interview

India has been polio free for a year and Nigeria hopes to follow suite, marking out high risk areas where more effort is needed. But the first round of immunisation this year has seen persistent challenges; caregivers refusing the vaccine, children still being missed, and health worker commitment in need of improvement. Pharmacist Inuwa Ya'u, programme officer for Polio Eradication Initiative at the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, monitors implementation of immunisation across states. He spoke to Daily Trust's Ruby Leo and Judd- Leonard Okafor.


What is the difference between the National macro plans for polio eradication and the way the micro plans are implemented at the local government levels?

Microplans are developed at lower levels. By implication, what it simply means is that they are plans that are developed to enable the team cover the four-day period within available resources, which means the vaccines, target population, resources. Why we do that is to ensure every child in every ward and settlement is covered. Planning is the foundation of every programme.

What I see here is that Jigawa has been using the microplan, but just like in any other state the microplan sometimes does not take us to where we want to go, meaning that some settlements are still being missed.

And at this age, when we are pushing very hard to ensure that we get polio out of Nigeria, teams still do develop their own microplans and they are expected to work with these microplans for any visitor that comes in to know the exact location and to really understand the plans they have for that day.

Unfortunately, some of them don't go with those plans even though they have them. We have had to make some corrections today, but some wards still go along with their microplans.

Does the general implementation on the ground give you hope, as someone involved in the running of the polio eradication programme? Are we getting close?

We have strong hope that we can eradicate polio out of Nigeria. But then there are three basic problems we must overcome. One is the quality of our implementation, that is the way we deliver these vaccines. There are gaps in the human resources, there are gaps in the pluses, there are gaps in even the commitment of some health workers. And to address this, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, in collaboration with development partners, developed the Accountability Framework, where every person from the highest level to the lowest person giving the vaccines to the children is accountable for his or her own actions.

And we are now changing the training and selection process. The selection used to be between the ward focal person and just the village head. Now we have ward selection committee, comprising five distinguished members of the community that involve the traditional leader, the religious leader, any civil society organisation--to give balance and fairness--and then the ward focal person and also any partner (WHO, UNICEF) that is there in that community. This is the starting point. If we are able to get the right mix of personnel to do the house-to-house team, if we are able to acquire quality practical knowledge of how to do it, and if we are able to improve on our microplan, then the delivery component, which the is supply side of this programme, will improve.

The second component is the demand side. Are we really getting to the communities in the right way? Yes, but there is room for improvement. And unless we are able to do that improvement, we will not be able to reach there. This has to do with the issues on ground. Are we really using the media, especially the local radio stations, to really impact? Is our majigi system really working? Are we really expanding or we are just doing pockets of majigi film shows here and there that will only give us little impact? Are we identifying community champions? It isn't only the structural chairman, governor, commissioner. There are individuals that are highly respected and adored by the community people. They could be politicians, footballers, traders. The programme must identify them. These people must identify with the programme for the people to have confidence, because up till now noncompliance is still an issue.

The third component is underlying health system issues that are beyond the polio programme. When you visit a mother, her major reason why she is not allowing her child to be vaccinated is that if she goes to the nearby health facility for her malaria [stricken] child, she doesn't get attention...so why then would you be coming to her house to give medication? These are broader health system factors that we have to improve along the line for us to really get to the Promised Land.

How would you practically deal with these issues while the round is ongoing?

We need to develop a very robust health system. Government at all levels, the partners that are supporting health systems in Nigeria must come on board to improve the system. If this health system is not improved, it would create a barrier to our house to house strategy to immunising children. It is a broader context, but it is a very important factor that we have to bear in mind. But that should not stop us. If we are able to address the delivery and demand issues, which are programme oriented, I think we will able to reach the Promised Land.

There are other issues, beyond immunisation, that primary health care deals with. How do all those issues come together? People you deal just identify you with polio and that's it?

NPHCDA is a government institution constitutionally empowered to develop policies, direction and resource mobilisation for primary healthcare in Nigeria. Immunisation is one of seven key components of primary health care. We deal with maternal and child health, resource mobilisation, essential medicines, all the broader aspects of primary health care.

Why immunisation? Immunisation has been proven still to be the most cost effective intervention, and everywhere in the world it is the cornerstone of the primary health care. If every PHC facility has a functional immunisation system, I tell you all the remaining components--nutrition, food, hygiene, water--will automatically come to bear under the single platform of primary healthcare.

Secondly, Nigeria is still the only remaining African country where polio is endemic--meaning that all other countries at one point or the other have eliminated poliovirus. We have reached a very good level, and we have made progress. We should also bear in mind that for the past three years, 22 states in the southern part of this country have been polio free. We need to really put in much energy.

Fortunately for us, we have international support, and that support is gingering us. But we cannot do it unless the local government areas and states buy in as much as possible. The level of buy-in is growing.

There are a lot of fantastic components we use to support the LGAs. We have been constructing primary health care centres all over the country; it is one aspect of improving access. We have been mobilising resources to ensure that maternal health is improved. We are now doing this Midwives Service Scheme, which has even gotten an international award.

India has been polio free for a year. Nigeria is getting close but for a handful of states. By analogy, say, nine-tenths of the work is done. Isn't there a risk of complacence with just the final one-tenth?

Complacency, yes. We recorded very huge success in 2010 and the whole world celebrated us, and in 2011 we had some challenges. We were a bit complacent and went down a bit, but now we are coming up. The good thing is that at the highest level, Mr President has made an unequivocal pronouncement to the whole world and demonstrated that with commitment and action.

He has improved resource mobilisation toward polio eradication, and has constituted a presidential task force. This is leadership by example. Mr President sleeps with polio; Mr President wants polio to be eradicated. And good enough through the structure of the Nigerian Governors Forum, headed by the governor of Rivers state, Mr President, the health ministers and the agency are really working very closely with the governors at the second layer.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201203200654.html

Nigeria: Local Scientists Develop Vitamin Enriched Cassava

By Chioma Obinna

Nigerian scientists at the National Roots Crops Research Institute, NCRI, in collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, have developed and released the first ever African set of pro-vitamin A-enriched yellow cassava as part of strategies to curb the prevalence of malnutrition in the country.

The three varieties which include UMUCASS 36, UMUCASS 37 and 38 will provide more vitamin A in the diets of more than 70 million Nigerians who eat the root crop every day.

Launching the varieties at the NCRI, Umudike, Abia State weekend, the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, in his paper entitled; "Pro Vitamin A Cassava: A Revolution for Nutrition and Health in Nigeria" explained that the successes achieved in Nigeria with the control of the cassava mealy bug and cassava mosaic virus came from improved application of science, especially plant genetics and integrated pest management practices.

Describing it as a giant stride in the pursuit of better nutrition for vulnerable Nigerian groups, Adesina noted the success was part of the drive to transform agriculture through the Federal government Agricultural Transformation Action Plan, ATA, to ensure additional 20 million metric tonnes of food to the domestic supply and to focus on agriculture as a business.

"Cassava is one of the major crops under this Transformation Agenda. Our focus is to create new markets for cassava: these include high quality cassava flour, to be used in replacing some of the wheat flour being imported to produce bread, high fructose cassava syrup to replace the 200,000 metric tonnes of sugar currently being used in the juice manufacturing industry, dried cassava chips, and the production of ethanol. Our goal is to add an additional 17 million metric tonnes of cassava to our domestic food supply.

Maintaining that producing more food is not enough, he stressed the need to ensure that there are enhanced food nutrition and health.

His words: "UNICEF reports show that 43 per cent of under-five children in Nigeria are stunted. This is high when compared to 39 per cent for all developing countries; 26 per cent in Ghana; 25 per cent in Benin; 29 per cent in Botswana, Burkina Faso and Cameroon; and 33 per cent in Kenya.

Nigeria's ranks 158th out of 182 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI), with life expectancy of 48 years; risk of maternal death of 1 in 18; and under_five mortality rate of 186 per 1,000 live births. Nigeria's stunting prevalence puts it as the 32nd highest out of 136 countries.

"Nigeria has the third highest absolute number of children, who are stunted, with 41 per cent of children under the age of five stunted, 23 per cent underweight, and 14 per cent wasted. Moreover, 14 per cent of infants are born with a low birth weight.

Adesina stressed the need to accelerate efforts and policy measures on improving health and nutrition of vulnerable groups, especially women, infants and children.

"Scaling up core micronutrients interventions would cost less than US$188 million per year. This can be achieved through nutritional supplementation, diversity of diets and bio-fortification. Although the overall prevalence of stunting and underweight has been decreasing over the past two decades, progress in Nigeria may not be sufficient to meet MDG's goal of halving 1990 rates of child underweight by 2015."

He noted that annually, Nigeria loses over US$1.5 billion in GDP to vitamin and mineral deficiencies as many staple foods are low in essential micronutrients, hence the need for home fortification.

He said bio-fortification provides one of the best ways to achieve improvements in nutrition and explained that out of over 20 varieties earlier identified, more intense selection and conventional breeding work have brought at least three varieties that compare favourably in pro Vitamin A.

"These Pro Vitamin A or beta carotene varieties of cassava would go a long way in correcting the deficiency of this nutrient in diets, particularly those of the poor and the vulnerable.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201203200846.html

MATERNAL MORTALITY: Experts blame high rate on women illiteracy

Health experts have blamed high rate of illiteracy among women for the increasing maternal mortality in the country.


They made their submissions in Abuja at a three-day workshop to review maternal deaths in the country, organized by the Society of Gynecologist and Obstetrics of Nigeria, SOGON.


One of the guest speakers from the International Federation of Gynecologist and Obstetrics, Prof. Gwyneth Lewis advocates adequate health education for women as recipe for the reduction of maternal deaths in the country.


In a message, the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, described as unacceptable the high maternal deaths in the country.


The Health Minister, represented by Dr. Bridget Olaogbele said maternal death review had a potential to improve the quality of maternal health care and reduce maternal deaths figures



In an interview with Radio Nigeria, the President SOGON, Dr. Fred Achem said the workshop would proffer solution to many causes of maternal mortality, especially in Nigeria.


Participants at the workshop agreed that most maternal deaths in the country can be avoided if adequate care is provided for pregnant women.

A communiqué is expected at the end of the three-day maternal death review workshop.

http://ww2.radionigeria.gov.ng/frnews-detail.php?ID=4115

UNFPA Nigeria Jobs Vacancies March 2012

UNFPA Nigeria Jobs Vacancies March 2012 INTERNAL/EXTERNAL VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the leading UN organization in Reproductive Health and Population and Development, is recruiting personnel for the following position: PROGRAMME SPECIALIST – REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH – KADUNAPOST LEVEL: NOC (ICS10) http://recruitment-nigeria.comPOST NUMBER: 00012251DUTY POST: KadunaTYPE OF CONTRACT: Fixed TermDURATION: One Year [...]

For how to apply, go to: http://recruitment-nigeria.com/maternal-health-services