THE Rotary Club of Abeokuta Metropolitan, has donated infant weighing scale, mosquito nets, baby diapers and baby lotion/baby care ranges to Ijaye Health Centre (Ward 7), Oke Ejigbo, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Presenting the gift items, as part of activities to mark Maternal and Child Health Project, tagged: “The Magic of Rotary,” the club’s president, Abiodun Ogundaini, said the gesture was in commemoration of the month of July, which in Rotary calendar, is child and maternal month.
According to him, “We visit health centres and hospitals, especially the public ones, to see how the mother and child are faring, beginning from the antenatal to postnatal, today, we have seen the postnatal proceedings and we are donating infant weighing scale, 100 packs of diapers for babies from one to six months and some baby cares to mothers. This is based on what the head of the centre requested from us,” he said
He promised the centre that the club will always visit and assist in whatever way it could, advising mothers to ensure that their babies were well vaccinated to avoid deformities that could arise from polio or other ailments.
The chairperson, Maternal and Child Health Committee, Alhaja Monsurat Abeke said the club decided to tag this year’s programme as magic of rotary “because we are performing magic by touching lives and that is why we are here.”
She added that the club chose Oke-Ejigbo being a remote area, in order to sensitise the pregnant women and nursing mothers on the essence of hygiene and in patronising government health facilities for their betterment.
She noted that most of pregnant mothers and nursing ones hardly come to health facilities with diapers and other baby items because of the economic hardship, saying the club has a mandate to provide them the items to mark their Maternal and Child Health Week, tagged: The Magic of Rotary.”
“Don’t miss any of your vaccinations; ensure you complete your vaccination because we don’t want to have any child deformed from polio or any other disease. Rotary will always be there to know how you are faring with your babies. From time to time, we will be visiting here to perform other projects,” she said
Receiving the items, the Chief Chew and Ward Focal Person of the centre, Nurse Songodare Titilayo Oluyemisi, thanked the club for the gesture, saying that it was imperative to make use of the items donated to the centre for the benefit of the people at large.
She said: “I appreciate you all because it is not easy to feel for nursing mothers, many organisations have been here in the past to make promises, yet we never saw them again. But, here you are fulfilling your promise, may God continue to bless you.”
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