By Blessing Ituma, Nigeria
Photo by Blessing Ituma.
Policy makers, healthcare providers and individuals are urged to specifically prioritise maternal and child health in Nigeria.
Acting Executive Secretary of Rivers Contributory Health Protection Programme (RIVCHPP), Dr Vetty Agala who made the remarks as a keynote speaker in PortHarcourt during the celebration of the 2025 world health day celebrations, reaffirmed that despite the level of progress made in the health sector, there are still critical issues that affect the wellbeing of mothers and children.
Agala emphasised, “RIVCHPP has ensured that mothers and their children have access to essential health care services, and it has provided financial risk protection for residents of Rivers State, calling on all residents, especially pregnant women to take advantage of the window created by the agency in bettering the health needs of the people and saving them huge sums of money and emotional trauma.”
Agala enumerated the benefits of health insurance in engendering the improved health of the people, urging stakeholders join hands to check mortality rates.
Also, speaking at the event, the Permanent Secretary, Rivers Ministry of Health , Dr Comfort Mekele Igwe, emphasised that health is not just about hospitals and medicines but also about the food we eat, the water we drink, the place we live and work, and the information we have access to, calling on all and sundry to make health a top priority.
The Permanent Secretary reiterated that the state government recognises that health is a fundamental human right , and that is why the government is working tirelessly to ensure every resident of the state has access to quality health care .
RIVCHPP enrolees at Ozuoba in Obio Akpor LGA were given the opportunity to speak on their experiences with the scheme in the last one year outlining benefits and challenges where applicable.
Photo by Blessing Ituma
In his remarks, the National President of Association of Public health Physicians of Nigeria, Dr. Kene Terfaa, who commended the RIVCHPP for the laudable achievements and for partnering APHPN in celebration of the world health day in the state, despite being under emergency rule, emphasised that his association would continue to work with communities to promote education and support throughout the nation.
In his opening remarks, the Rivers State branch president of the association, Dr. Aloni Alali, said that every life counts, and that is why the association has partnered RIVCHPP and healthstream medicare to organise the world health day celebration, emphasising that the activities of the day included enlightenment, enrolment into RIVCHPP programmes, and medical outreach.
WHO, Rivers State Coordinator Prof Abdulganiyu Giwa and Dr Simene of Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) were at the event.
The organisation notes that four out of five countries are not on track to meet the 2030 targets for improving maternal survival, with one in three also set to miss goals for reducing newborn deaths of which Nigeria is among.
According to UNICEF data, Nigeria’s 40 million women of childbearing age (15 to 49 years) face a disproportionately high burden of health challenges related to childbirth.
“While the country represents 2.4 per cent of the world’s population, it currently contributes 10 per cent of global deaths for pregnant mothers. The latest figures show a maternal mortality rate of 576 per 100,000 live births, the fourth highest on earth,” UNICEF noted.
Alarmingly, approximately 262,000 babies in Nigeria die at birth annually, the world’s second highest.
However, the United Nations has warned that recent cuts in global health aid could reverse decades of progress in reducing maternal deaths, even as a new report shows fewer women are dying during pregnancy and childbirth than in the early 2000s.
In a report released to mark World Health Day on Sunday, the UN revealed that maternal deaths dropped by 40 per cent globally between 2000 and 2023, thanks to improved healthcare.