As Nigeria still grapples with maternal and child mortality, various means have been devised to respond to this problem. Contributing to 20% of global maternal death in the world, it consequently means that Nigeria is responsible for the highest maternal and child mortality in the world.
Thus, other approaches to tackling this problem are essential as the government cannot foot the entire burden of improving health interventions in the country. As accountability remains the key approach to realizing a decline in MNCH mortality, citizens remain the drivers of the demand for accountability in the health sector. Their participation in strengthening maternal and child healthcare cannot be overemphasized.
In a bid to promote the participation of citizens to strengthen MNCH via accountability interventions in Kumbotso Local Government Area in Kano State, the Resource Center for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) hosted community members to a-day workshop on fostering transparency and accountability in the LGA.
- Strengthening accountability in Kano’s MNCH intervention
- Reinforcing maternal health and child care in Kano via accountability interventions
- WHO report shows 2,700 on healthcare workers between 2018 to 2020
Welcoming the community members to the workshop, Comrade Dr. Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi, the Executive Director of CHRICED explained that the workshop was one of the several activities designed to achieve the cardinal objectives of the project of Promoting Democratic Participation in Two Local Government Areas of Kano State, adding that the activities take their justification from the notion that democracy, isn’t an end in itself.
While urging citizens to organize pressure policy and governance systems to ensure that the will of the people triumphs in every facet, he said “with proper planning and management of health budgets and other extra-budgetary interventions targeting the health sector, a lot of difference will be made, just as precious lives will be saved.
“As citizens in Kumbotso LGA, if you understand your rights and responsibility to access quality maternal and child healthcare, you will be able to use your influence to shape the policies of the government. With the right cacity and skill, citizens in this LGA will better campaign for quality health outcomes by holding duty bearers accountable, especially with respect to the use of public resources.”
All across Kumbotso LGA in the course of this project, CHRICED is devoted to working closely with citizens and communities to empower them with the skills and capacities to use innovative approaches, and legal provisions to ensure funds for maternal and child healthcare projects achieve the real objectives for which they were appropriated.
Speaking on the approaches towards Improving inclusion, transparency and accountability in planning and management of health budget and interventions in the LGA, Mr Armsfree Ajanaku the programs and communications manager of CHRICED said key policymakers and agencies in the state ministry of health and counterpart local government authorities, government officials, health professionals, community associations and community leaders would be engaged towards ensuring their responsiveness to the people.
Additionally, a model would be generated for improving health interventions that can be adopted by the state government and replicated across the state to reduce the risk of maternal and child mortality, adding that awareness and mobilizing community voices as drivers of demand for accountability in the health s+]vector would be harnessed.
Speaking on reproductive MNCH as human rights, Mr Omoniyi Adeyemi the Senior programs officer at CHRICED described the Right to health as equivalent to the right to life, because the rights to quality reproductive and MNCH services are universally recognized rights, stressing that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) recognizes that “motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance.
He also noted that section 17 of the constitution of the country (1999) states that “The State shall direct its policy towards ensuring that there are adequate medical health facilities for all persons, including children and women.”
Mr Omoniyi explained that asides the MNCH policies put in place by the government, the Kano state government has put in place some interventions to guarantee citizens right to quality MNCH delivery such as; Free Maternal Health and Ante-Natal care, Free Immunization, Free Vaccination, Free Emergency Healthcare, Free treatment of under 5, Free VVF treatment, amongst the numerous free services made available to them.
He further charged the Kumbotso residents to always demand for their rights and always report to authorities if any right of theirs is being denied, even as Kano state remains the state with the highest cases of maternal and newborn mortality in Nigeria.
