Lagos State government, on Friday, said it has spent N500 million to cater for indigent pregnant women under its Mother, Infant and Child (MICH) programme, pointing out that the initiative was to ensure children have adequate care rights from the womb.
Princess Aderemi Adebowale, Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Civic Engagement, disclosed this speaking about the activities of the MICH initiative, saying the state government currently targeted 1,140 indigent pregnant women to reduce maternal mortality and tackle the problem of malnutrition prevalent among indigent pregnant women.
According to her, the MICH programme, a brainchild of the Office of Civic Engagement, is seeking to support the development of socially responsible citizens from the womb through infancy, childhood, and youth into adulthood, adding that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was passionate about the wellbeing of pregnant women and their unborn children.
She said the initiative aimed at taking care of indigent pregnant women in order to develop the brain of unborn children and also ensure their welfare, saying that the idea was to ensure that the society had ideal children, and a secured environment for the people.
Adebowale, who also described the project as a follow-up to the pilot scheme, said that the state government would require nothing less than N70billion to cater for the entire indigent pregnant women in the state, where nutritional food packs and other supplements would be given to women weekly to enhance the rapid development of the pregnancies.
She said the government was kicking off with this second pilot phase with 1,140 participants, comprising a research study with 20 pregnant women in each of the 20 LGAs and 37 LCDAs in Lagos.
The Special Adviser, who also urged the federal government to emulate Lagos State by replicating the project across the country to tackle the growing rate of maternal mortality, described the project as a laudable one which will provide food and supplements for pregnant women with full monitoring of their existing conditions, along with their unborn children throughout pregnancy till delivery and post-partum.
Harping on the judicious distribution of the items to the target beneficiaries, Adebowale said that strategies had been put in place to ensure that only indigent pregnant women benefitted from the scheme on a weekly basis, adding that the state government alongside other partners would monitor the execution of the project.
The Special Adviser, however, urged every beneficiary to cooperate with the government’s team of medical experts, research teams and care volunteers at every stage of the process.
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