To complement the effort of government on child health and mortality rate in Nigeria, Rotary Club in Lagos donated over 70 baby cot beds and other gift items to indigent mothers in various government hospitals across six local government areas in the State.
The donation exercise which was organised by six Rotary Clubs in Lagos also aimed to support mothers in delivery and infant care.
Speaking at Isolo General Hospital where the initial donation was made, president Rotary Club of Akowonjo, Ben Dare, explained that the exercise aimed to give back to indigent mothers who gave birth within the period of the donation.
Lamenting the poor state of the nation’s primary healthcare, he said: “That is why Rotary Club is coming in to breach the gap to actually do a bit and not giving every responsibility to the government, to serve as a partnership, and as a breach to help in the areas of child health and mortality rate in our nation Nigeria.’’
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On the other hand, he attributed high rate of maternal and infant mortality to ignorance on the side of mothers and stressed the need for mothers to be educated on what it takes to have a safe delivery.
In addition, he said: “For me the truth about it is the knowledge gap. Most women don’t even have the knowledge of how to go about it. That is the situation we find ourselves. So for Rotary Club, we do advocacy, education.
“By doing that we impact knowledge. With knowledge they can do better, because if they know better they can do better next time.”
On his part, member Rotary Club of Akowonjo, Oladapo Bankole affirmed that the partnership with other Clubs was to ensure that needy women in other local governments benefit from the donation.
“In Rotary we believe that when we come together we do more impact in reaching out to other people. Six local governments will be impacted with this project’’.
Bankole however, advised women of child bearing age to take their health seriously, adding : “They should always consult the doctor, not to engage in self- medication. When they are pregnant they should take everything seriously, heed to the advice of their doctors, and always ensure that they take care of their environment.
“We need funding to make sure we have good healthcare system. And unfortunately there is no much funding. Again, we need to educate people better on family planning and also on health related issues when it comes to mother and child.
“Unfortunately, we have a lot of maternal deaths, there are also instances where they are probably not having well balanced meals when they are pregnant, or they don’t have proper hygiene and sanitary conditions.
“Basically, family planning is essential, we hope other people too, would start doing that actively going forward’’.
On her part, president, Rotary of Isolo, Princess Tokunbo Allison urged government at all levels to equip primary health care and added that such effort would go a long way in reducing maternal and child maternity in the country.
Some of the beneficiaries who spoke at the event lauded the organisers for remembering them in such capacity.
