Oyo govt flags off health week to optimise women, children’s health

Oyo State, in a bid to prioritise the health of mothers and children, has flagged off the first round of Optimised Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Week across the state to ensure women and children can access 14 different health interventions.

The health interventions provided include immunisation services, HPV vaccination, malaria diagnosis and treatment, family planning services, screening for malnutrition, HIV screening and counselling, vitamin A supplementation, deworming, and haematinics for pregnant women.

The Executive Secretary of the Oyo State Primary Healthcare Board, Dr Muideen Olatunji, at the flag-off, urged mothers to ensure their children are vaccinated against common childhood killer diseases, feed them with locally available food materials that can be combined simply, and encourage vaccination against human papillomavirus to protect girls from cervical cancer.

“The government is trying to do everything possible to ensure that people live in good health. And you can see that by the way the government has been approaching the renovation of health facilities across the state to ensure that where they take the health services is conducive.

“Currently, the government has recruited about 3,933 health staff across different cadres to provide services to people. This underscores the premium the government pays for the health and well-being of our citizens. Therefore, our appeal is that people take advantage of this opportunity.”

WHO Oyo State Coordinator, Dr Philip Zorto, said the five-day-long exercise offers mothers the opportunity to make the most of antenatal care services and urged women to sensitise others in their communities to seize the opportunity of the services to better women’s and children’s health and to check their health.

“So it’s an opportunity to improve antenatal services, strengthen routine immunisation services, provide vitamin A supplementation and other nutritional supplements as well as nutrition services so that the children will not be malnourished. As you get the service, you will be better protected,” he said.

The Oyo State Coordinator for the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Mr Tunde Alasan, said the need for children to grow healthy and strong was the reason for the Maternal and Child Health Week, which aimed to ensure mothers and children can access different health interventions.

According to Mr Alasan, “This is unique in the sense that the HPV vaccine is being included for girls 9 years old, so those that miss out when the HPV was introduced also have another opportunity to access the HPV vaccine.”

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