In bid to address the issue of maternal and infant mortalities along with Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) and child nutrition issues, Jigawa State Government has inaugurated a 23-member Technical Committee on Safe Motherhood Initiative Demand (SMID).
Inaugurating the committee the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Malam Bala Ibrahim in his office said the aim is to revive and strengthen the programme in the state.
Malam Bala Ibrahim stated; “Its terms of reference were to undertake a technical review of the implementation of the safe motherhood initiative demand, develop an implementation framework for strengthening quality facility and community-based nutrition counseling to caregivers for behavioral change and attitude and to undertake situational analysis of Safe Motherhood initiative demand emergency transport vehicles and develop ways for strengthening referrals and linkages between communities and health facilities among others”.
The Secretary to the state government explained that the safe motherhood initiative programme was first introduced in 2006 courtesy of a DFID development support programme called PATHS.
According to him, “Most significant feature of the safe Motherhood initiative demand was the Emergency Transport Scheme with a fleet of ‘Haihuwa Lafiya’ vehicles for transporting pregnant women with obstructed labour to the nearest competent health facilities for emergency care”.
The SSG said, “With the coming of His Excellency Governor Umar Namadi’s administration, Government saw the need for the revival and strengthening of the Safe Motherhood programme to continue addressing the issue of maternal and infant mortalities along with Vesico Vaginal Fistula VVF and child nutrition issues”.
“Part of the efforts geared towards reviving and strengthening the safe motherhood programme is the constitution of the technical committee I am about to inaugurate”.
Malam Bala Ibrahim disclosed that all members of the committee have been selected and appointed to the committee based on their experience and known commitment to the cause of saving the lives of mothers and their children.
The members of the Technical Committee were drawn from Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Ministry for Local Government, Rehabilitation Board, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Religious and Traditional institutions, medical experts and professionals NARTO and Civil Society Organization (CSO), NURTW.
