The National Primary Health Care Development Agency says only 463 of the 25,843 primary healthcare facilities in Nigeria have the minimum number of required Skilled Birth Attendants (SBA).
NPHCDA Executive Director, Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this Wenesday in Abuja during a briefing on the Community-Based Health Research Innovative Training and Services Program (CRISP).
He said this was part of the findings of a national health facility assessment in 2022 carried out by the agency.
He said aside the gross inadequacy, there was the problem of unequal distribution of available SBAs in the primary healthcare facilities.
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Shuaib said to address the problem, the NPHCDA came up with CRISP which would be launched on Monday.
He noted that availability of skilled health workers in PHC facilities is critical to curbing maternal, perinatal, neonatal morbidity and mortality.
UNICEF Nigeria Chief of Health, Eduardo Celades, said only 70 per cent of pregnant women in Nigeria currently had access to antenatal care, with only 60 per cent receiving complete antenatal checkups.
Celades said only half of the newborns were attended to by skilled birth attendants, adding that neonatal and under-five mortality rates remained high.
Walter Mulombo, WHO Country Representative, said reliable data and evidence is important in guiding policies and interventions, noting that the Community-Based Research Innovative Training and Services Programme would help generate evidence and ultimately improve health outcomes.
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