Kaduna govt commends Save the Children over neonatal reduction

The Kaduna State Government has lauded the effort of Save the Children International (SCI) for supporting the state to improve the quality of newborn health services to reduce neonatal deaths.

The state’s Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr Paul Dogo,  gave the commendation during End of Project Dissemination Meeting on Strengthening Newborn Care (SNBC) Project in Igabi Local Government Area (LGA) .

He said that the state government would soon recruit more than 3000 health workers to address the problem of manpower shortage in Primary Healthcare Centres (PHC) in the state.

He said the recruitment would enable Primary Health Care facilities provide 24-hour services across the state, adding that 191 out of the 255 of such facilities across the state have been renovated.

‎”Due to the support of SCI and other development partners, infant mortality in the state has reduced from 115 per 1,000 live births in 2013 to 66 per 1,000 live births in 2017.

“We equally commend SCI for improving the capacity of health workers of 34 health facilities in Igabi LGA to ensure quality newborn care service delivery with a view to improving the survival rate of infants,” he said.

Earlier, the SCI’s Newborn Health Coordinator, Mrs Grace James,  said SCI had so far trained 74 doctors, nurses and midwives, 118 community health extension workers on Essential Newborn Care Course.

She also said that six doctors and nurses were trained on management of sick newborns and another 69 record officers and facility heads were trained on data management.

She said  the SNBC project, implemented between March 2016 and December 2018, was funded through global partnership with Johnson and Johnson to reduce preventable newborn deaths in Kaduna state, as part of the Saving 100K Babies Global Initiative.

She said that the project provided direct support to Igabi LGA to improve newborn care services in 34 health facilities and improve referrals from Primary Health Care to General Hospitals.