The Special Adviser to the President on Health, Dr Salma Anas-Kolo, says that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration is working hard towards reducing the high maternal and child mortality rate in the country.
She stated this yesterday in Abuja during an interactive session with members of the Association of Nigerian Health Journalists (ANHEJ) on the president’s Renewed Hope health agenda.
Nigeria currently has a maternal mortality rate of 512 per 100,000 live births, neonatal mortality rate of 38 per 1000 live births and an infant mortality rate of 67 per 1000 live births.
She said Nigeria is not doing well from the statistics and that accelerating the reduction of maternal death is one key priority area of the president’s Renewed Hope health agenda.
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She said that the policy direction of the agenda is to reduce maternal mortality ratio from 512 per 100,000 live births by 35%, reduce Total Fertility Rate from 5.4 by 20% and reduce neonatal mortality rate from 38 per 1,000 live births by 40%.
She said that it is also geared towards reducing infant mortality rate from 67 per 1,000 live births by 40% and Under-5 mortality rate from 132 per 1,000 live births by 25%.
Dr Anas-Kolo said the healthcare reforms and policy agenda is defined by the concept of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), adding that by making universal coverage the primary objective, the administration will create new jobs and bring greater economic and social development to Nigerians.
She said the Renewed Hope health agenda comprise eight priority areas which are: health governance, leadership, and institutional reform, health financing ,comprehensive and integrated health service delivery, health manufacturing and local content (including pharmaceutical), public health emergencies, preparedness, and response (PHEPR), human resources for health , health information management, technologies and research (HIMTR) and partnership in health.
She said the current administration targets increasing the number of primary health care from just one per ward to promoting two primary care centres per ward in a local government.
President of ANHEJ, Joseph Kadiri said the association is committed to continued partnership with the office of the special adviser on health to create awareness on the administration’s policies as well addressing health sector challenges.
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