Africa seeks global fund against maternal deaths
ABUJA, Nigeria, 5. September, 2008: African countries participating at the on-going regional health conference have proposed the setting up of a Global Fund, to boost the fight against maternal deaths and infant mortality.
The fund will enable countries currently facing huge challenges in curbing high maternal deaths to draw resources to fund maternal and child health programmes. A similar arrangement already exists in the fight against tuberculosis, leprosy (spedalskhed) and HIV.
The proposal came on the heels of the signing of the World Alliance for Patient Safety, a World Health Organisations document that seeks to safeguard the patient and the health worker from infections associated with health-care facilities.
Minister of Health, Dr Muhammad Hassan Lawal, said since Africa constitutes 10 per cent of the global maternal health burden, it is time to join hands to scale-up interventions for integrated maternal newborn and child health.
Available statistics indicate that in Nigeria alone, a womans chances of dying from pregnancy and child-birth is one in every 13, and in the Sub-Saharan Africa, it is one out of every 26 women, compared to one out of every 7.300 in developed countries.
Further to this is that, of the 14 countries worldwide where maternal mortality is above 1.000 per live births, 13 of the countries are from Sub-Saharan Africa.
Lawal disclosed that Nigeria has already created a full department under the Federal Ministry of Health, which will be specifically dedicated to addressing family health issues and have also doubled budgetary allocations to support the maternal and child health programme in Nigeria.
He endorsed the new strategy of having a Global Fund, saying given the competing demands governments face, the proposed funds could provide member states with the needed opportunity to achieve better results in their respective countries.
Meanwhile Nigeria has endorsed the World Alliance for Patient Safety, a World Health Organisations document that seeks to safeguard the patient and the health worker from infections associated with healthcare facilities.
An estimated 1,4million people worldwide are said to be suffering from infections acquired in hospitals while they are undergoing treatment for other ailments.
About 32 other countries also signed the document as a sign of their commitment towards the essence of the campaign. The document is essentially a health hygiene strategy designed to reduce healthcare associated infections in and around the hospital arena.
The document had earlier been signed by 80 countries in 2005. Before Thursdays endorsement by Nigeria and 32 others, only five African countries namely, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal and Uganda were signatories to the agreement.
Kilder: AllAfrica Global Media og The Push Journal
