Management Sciences for Health (MSH) which supports health projects in 19 states, has raised concern about health indices across the country, calling it “unacceptable” that more than 150 of women die every day due to preventable causes, that 2,300 children die daily and one in five Nigerian children will not celebrate their fifth birthday.
Speaking at MSH’s 10th anniversary, its country representative Dr Zipporah Kpamor said, “We believe that the situation is not hopeless as indicated by the interruption of the wild polio virus transmission and recent success with the control of the Ebola epidemic show.”
She said stakeholders had to “examine how what they are doing or not doing has continued to needlessly endanger the lives of women and children, but more importantly to have conversations on what we can all do to end these preventable deaths, because we all have a role to play.”
MSH has backed universal health coverage and praised “bold steps” the Nigerian government has taken toward it, after helping enrol some 6,000 beneficiaries for community health insurance in Rivers and Akwa Ibom.
“We understand that it will not happen in a day, but are encouraged with the share determination that we see to increase stewardship, accountability and transparency,” said Kpamor.
MSH, with some funding from US Agency for International Development, implements some nine projects, which have in the past 10 years, counselled and tested more than 2 million people for HIV, including 750,166 pregnant women, according to its own records.
More than 9,500 have been placed on life saving medications and 66,881 orphans and vulnerable children were served directly and indirectly, said Kpamor.
“MSH has contributed to saving 24,000 lives and improved the well-being of 36,000 vulnerable children,” said Kpamor. “For a country like Nigeria, we are probably asking, but how significant is that, we know that the journey of a thousand steps, starts with one.”
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