By Agbonlahor Felicia
In commemoration of the Maternal New-born and Child Health Week, the Edo State Primary Health Care Development Agency (EDSPHCDA) has trained supervising officers across all Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for exclusive monitoring of vaccination exercise across local government areas of the State to reduce child mortality, morbidity and poor health outcome among women of childbearing age.
The training which was held at the EDSPHCDA Boardroom on Wednesday, November 30, 2022, had in attendance stakeholders from the various MDAs within the State.
Speaking at the training, the Director of Community and Family Health Services (EDSPHCDA), Dr. Idemudia Osayomore, who represented the Executive Secretary (EDSPHCDA) Dr. Omosigho Izedonmwen, admonished participants to adhere to the instructions given and to ensure strict and efficient supervision during the exercise.
The State Nutrition Officer, Mrs. Phil Imade Amenze, who was the key facilitator, noted that the high child and maternal mortality rates coupled with weak health systems led to the adoption of the Maternal Newborn and Child Health Week (MNCHW) in March 2010 at the 53rd National Council on Health in Nigeria.
She added that the MNCHW is a week-long event organized to improve the coverage of integrated high impact, low cost, yet result-oriented promotive, preventive and curative health services.
According to her, the activity was designed to deliver services that would reduce child mortality, morbidity and poor health outcomes among women of child-bearing age.
She added that the targeted age group for the exercise is children within the age of 6 to 59 months and emphasized that this year’s exercise would focus on Vitamin A, De-worming and Mid-upper Arm Circumstance Measurements (MUAC) as well as assessment to determine malnutrition in the 18 LGAs of the State.
Mr. Kelly Omorogbe who was also one of the facilitators, took the participants through a practical session on Data collation process and entering into the Ward Level Summary Sheet, De-worming Tablets Tally Sheet and the Mid-upper Arm Circumference Tally Sheet.
The State Monitoring and Evaluation Officer (EDSPHCDA), Mrs. Ajayi-David, also took the participants through a practical session on proper registration exercise.
The highpoint of the training was the question and answer session where participants were given the opportunity to ask questions on grey areas for proper understanding.
Speaking to journalists, Mr. Olamide Jacob, a participant at the training, said that the training was an eye opener for him, as the training has exposed him to the proper way of administering the blue and red vitamin-A to children without force.
Another participant who also spoke to journalists, Mrs. Ighodaro Cynthia, said that the training was a good step to reach out to children in this year’s MNCH Week, adding that the training was geared towards reducing the death rate of children under the ages of 5years.
