NIGERIA
were held on the need to have a national platform for dialogue and advocacy to ensure accountability in maternal and newborn health in Nigeria. The objectives of the meeting were to review Nigeria’s steps and strategies to reduce the burden of maternal and child death, to brainstorm and assess existing and potential accountability mechanisms on MNCH, and to initiate a platform for a national dialogue for civil societies and media on accountability and using such for evidence based advocacy and accountability on MNH. The meeting took place at the conference hall of the
Above and below: Speakers and delegates at the Safe Motherhood Day seminar
the seminars. The session led to the development of an advocacy and sensitisation action plan for the adoption and scale-up of best practices on emergency transport services (ETS) among existing WDC communities, formation of schemes in new communities, the expansion of drug revolving fund (DRF) schemes (shown to be a useful part of a birth preparedness and complication readiness plan) to other communities, for the increase in manpower at health facilities at the state and local government level, and the use of misoprostol as an effective intervention for prevention and treatment of post-partum hemorrhage. This 1-year plan will be implemented starting June 2012 Some of the activities carried out during the 2012 Safe Motherhood Day included a ministerial press briefing which held on Tuesday, May 22; health talks at two general hospitals and four primary health care (PHC) centres; and community outreach activities at the Mpape market (in Abuja), where ‘mama packs’ were distributed to pregnant women, health talks were given, condoms were distributed to men and blood pressure and HIV/AIDS Counseling and Testing services provided.
Why accountability in maternal and newborn health in Nigeria? The Evidence for Health (E4A) project held a stakeholders’ forum on accountability in maternal and newborn health in Nigeria on 14th
June 2012. In
attendance were members of civil societies, health professional bodies, and the media. Discussions
July 2012
Valencia Hotel in Abuja and prominent at the meeting were Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf (Advocacy Nigeria), Auwal Rafsanjani (CISLAC), Professor Ladipo (Association for Reproductive and Family Health), Dr Fred Achem (Society of Obstetrician and Gynaecologists), Dr Husain Abdu ( Action Aid Nigeria), Dr Farouk Jega ( Pathfinder International), Barrister Abiola (Women Advocates ‘Research and Documentation Centre), Dr Nkem Ene (HERFON), Dr Tunde (E4A), and Dr Wilson (Women’s Health and Action Research Centre). Dr Aminu Magashi, the Evidence Adviser for E4A Nigeria presented a paper titled ‘Why Accountability in Maternal and Newborn Health in Nigeria?’, to provide a background for the discussions. At the end of the meeting, the forum agreed to establish a loose national platform for dialogue, advocacy, and information sharing to improve accountability in MNH. The forum also agreed on a set of activities such as providing support for conducting maternal death reviews and use of such data for dissemination and decision making related to quality of care, use of score cards to monitor key indicators of government’s performance in MNH, and publishing an annual report of MNH aimed at catalysing action in improving MNH. Evidence for Action (E4A) is a 5-year programme
which aims to improve maternal and newborn survival in six sub-Saharan countries. Funded by the UK Department for International Development (DfID), it focuses on using better information and improved advocacy and accountability to save lives in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania. E4A will receive £20million from August 2011 to March 2016 from DfID to fund this intervention. The E4A Nigeria commenced full operations in May 2012 and is hosted by Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria (HERFON) in its headquarters in Abuja and the Country The Director is Dr Tunde Segun while the Evidence Advisor, Dr Aminu Magashi operates from the Kano Office, and the initial programme activities will be focused in Kano and Jigawa during the first year, while plans are in place for expansion into other Northern States. More information about E4A activities are available on the website,
www.evidenceforaction.net.
Dr Osahon Enabulele elected NMA President at the 2012 Annual General Conference Dr Osahon Enabulele, has emerged as the new president of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), at an election which ended in the early hours of Saturday. The election was held on Friday, May 4th
2012 at the Africa Health Nigeria 3
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