In a bid to lend its voice to the fight against maternal mortality and morbidity, the care of the unreached organization has taken its campaigns to interior communities in order to bring healthcare closer to the people and fill the vacuum experienced in such communities in maternal and childcare. YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE reports.
As part of efforts to contribute its quota and make primary health care accessible to people especially at the grassroots where people are usually cut off, an organisation named care for the unreached has commenced outreach to interior communities to ensure that pregnant women and children especially new born babies, get adequate care to stem the tide and maternal mortality and death of children less than five years of age which is on the rise.
The organisation founded by Ayomidamope Adebiyi, a United States based emergency and trauma nurse, is focused primarily on making it easy for people at the grassroots to have information about taking care of their health and also bring healthcare closer to the people and improving the maternal, newborn and child health outcomes in Nigeria.
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At its first health outreach held at Ejioku and Lalupon in Lagelu Local Government Area of Oyo State, care for the unreached educated new mothers on safe ways to care for their children and created a platform for them to ask questions related to immunization, family planning identifying signs of infections and prevention of infections through hand washing, umbilical cord care and the importance of breastfeeding.
It also provided 59 new mothers with newborn care products such as diapers, wipes, hand sanitisers and other baby essentials while 59 babies also got up-to-date immunization vaccines.
Also, care for the unreached in furtherance of its community health outreach moved to two primary health care centres; Lagelu and Alegongo Primary Healthcare Centers where the organisation provided 140 pregnant and new mothers with newborn care packages and also educated them on the importance of breastfeeding, proper nutrition and immunisation vaccinations. And in both locations, over 60 newborn babies present during the outreach were given immunisation vaccinations to protect them against preventable childhood infections.
Speaking on the project, Ayomidamope stated that, “at care for the unreached, we believe that these arte sustainable ways to help improve maternal health, newborn and child health outcomes in Nigeria, thereby strengthening and equipping health systems, using primary healthcare as the entry point. We want to thank all the people that donated to this project and made this outreach possible, you have changed people’s lives in ways you cannot imagine. We also say thank you to our volunteers who bought into this vision and gave their time to make it work.
“It is our belief that immunisation is one of the most cost effective public health interventions. According to the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF), immunization vaccinations avert an estimated two to three million deaths every year. As a direct result of immunisation, the world is closer to than ever to eradicating polio, with only three countries remaining with polio epidemic; Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. This is contained in a 2019 UNICEF report,” she stated.
And as care for the unreached continues its the outreach, it is calling on people to join the train and help create a platform of good health for women because an healthy woman translates to a healthy society.
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