The move is expected to reduce maternal and infant mortality in the country
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Ado Mohammed, on Tuesday in Minna, said the agency is set to deploy 2,000 midwives to help curb maternal and infant mortality in the country.
Speaking during the orientation held for the 2012 set of Basic Midwives, Mohammed said that 1,300 midwives out of the 2,000 had already been engaged, while the remaining 700 would be engaged before the end of this year.
He added that the agency had deployed 4,000 Midwives to rural communities under the Midwife Service Scheme (MSS) which began in 2009, thereby reducing the mortality rates in public health institutions.
Mohammed said the agency was trying to achieve the target of no more than 75 deaths per 100,000 live births in public health institutions.
He said that the agency was working to fast-track its strategy for curbing the maternal and infant mortality rate in line with the Millennium Development Goals.
“We hope to attain a 12 percent reduction target in the level of maternal and infant mortality rate in our health institutions annually. We will do this through capacity building for midwives and other incentives for pregnant mothers attending our clinics,” Mohammed said.
He said that the strategies included the introduction of the conditional cash transfer scheme designed as an incentive for pregnant women to attend ante-natal services in public health institutions close to them.
According to Mohammed, the agency intended to select individuals within a given ward and train them as Village Health Workers.
“This will complement the efforts of the Midwives who are expected to mobilise pregnant women to attend ante-natal clinics,” he said.
The executive director also commended President Goodluck Jonathan for increasing the level of funding for the agency from N2 billion to N3.6 billion this year.
He urged state and local governments to fulfil their financial commitment to the scheme by paying the midwives posted to their domains their monthly allowance. According to him, “The Federal Government has fulfilled its side of the agreement under the MoU.”
Mohammed instructed the new midwives deployed to embrace the scheme and ensure that no deaths are recorded in their places of posting. He assured them that the agency and various other bodies would be monitoring their activities.
“It is imperative that you be of good conduct to your patients, clients and members of the communities where you will be posted during this period,” he told them.
