In a bid to improve health and nutrition of pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers in Nigeria, the Federal Government has launched the use of mobile phone to circulate nutrition information in the country.
The programme tagged “mNutrition”, a process of using mobile technology to send text messages to Nigerians with a view to expanding access to health and nutrition services, was launched in Abuja on Thursday.
Isaac Adewole, minister of Health, said that the programme was a step towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
“mNutrition Programme was aimed at leveraging on mobile technology to scale up health and nutrition outcomes in Nigeria,” he said.
The minister noted that malnutrition was known to slow economic growth and perpetuate poverty by reducing children’s brain development, their ability to learn and be productive citizens during their adult years, stressing that malnourished children learn less in school and were more likely to drop out of school and eventually earn less as adults.
He said that most malnutrition happens in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life – from conception to child’s second birthday – and the damage caused at that period is irreversible, adding that it impairs cognitive development, reduces learning ability and causes loss of productivity in adult years.
Adewole appreciated all the stakeholders, especially Ernest Ndukwe, the former vice chairman, NCC, Akinwale Goodluck, head, GSMA sub-Saharan Africa, DFID, UNICEF, ECOWAS, and GRAMEEN FOUNDATION for their contributions towards achieving mobile nutrition programme in the country.
Osagie Ehanire, minister of State for Health, speaking on “Integrating Mobile Telecommunications into Nutrition Programme in Nigeria”, said that Nutrition was a key factor in the reduction of high maternal and child mortality.
Osagie said that reduction of child mortality and morbidity due to malnutrition could be achieved through coordinated efforts by all stakeholders to increase coverage and access to nutrition services such as special attention to women during pregnancy, promotion of health education as well as improve infant and young children feeding.
Earlier, Akinwale Goodluck, a Nigerian living and working in Nairobi, Kenya, said that Nigeria was one of the eight selected countries for mNutrition. Other countries include Kenya, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
He observed that it was apparent that mobile phone had the capacity to change the way and manner people behave, as a result, it was imperative to use mobile technology to create more awareness on Nutrition in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, In line with its target of revitalization of 10,000 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) across the country, the Federal Government on Thursday inaugurated the Supply Chain Revitalisation Committee for PHCS with the mandate to ensure a robust supply chain for drugs, vaccines and other commodities for Primary Health Centres.
The Minister of Health at the inauguration said that the committee is expected to guide and advice the government on issues of procurement, storage, distribution and monitoring of commodities, as well as make recommendations to the government on ways to ensure affordable pricing for PHCS commodities.
He informed further that the efficiency of the work of the committee would further facilitate confidence building in Nigeria’s collaborations with international partners, since they would have a report and data of work done.
“This supply system would ensure we function within the national logistic framework of the health system, and ensure accurate data to show proof of work done, and to ensure healthier collaboration with development partners. If there is no data, development partners would tell you we cannot pay for there is no data,” Adewole said.
Members of the committee are supply chain experts drawn from the Federal Ministry of Health and key development partners such as UNICEF, UNFPA, WHO, BMGF, USAID and CHAI.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Heath at a separate event also commissioned equipment donated to the National Primary Health Care Development Agencies, which was principally to improve the provision of basic healthcare package for over 100 million Nigerians.
The executive director of NPHCDA, Faisal Shuaib, at the commissioning informed the minister that eight medical systems made the donation to support the revitalisation of Primary Health Centres in the country.
The donated items include 100 units of Health Centre Power Kits, 1 unit of ice pack freezer and 1 unit of vaccine refrigerator, as Shuaib informed that the donated items would assist the supply chain team do their work efficiently with targets on interior villages where Primary Health Centres are located.
