By Esther Onyegbula

LAGOS—With no fewer than  2,300 deaths of under-five and 145 women of childbearing age occurring every single day in Nigeria, experts have called for the need to leverage on technology to reduce neonatal and maternal death rates in the country.

The experts also raised the alarm that Nigeria has the highest neonatal and maternal mortality rate in the world.

According to UNICEF report, although analyses of recent trends showed that the country was making progress in cutting down infant and under-five mortality rates, the pace still remains too slow to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of reducing child mortality by a third by 2015.

In his submission at the flag off of the three-day training programme for paediatrics  organised by Outreach Medical Services in Lagos, a Consultant Anasthestist, Medway General Hospital, Kent, UK, Dr. Seyi Oyesola, explained that “having realised the lapses in the human capacity, knowledge, skills and the technological level of development in the Nigerian health sector, there is need to leverage on technology to reduce neonatal and maternal death rates.
Currently in Nigeria, less than 20 per cent of health facilities offer emergency obstetric care and only 35 per cent of deliveries are attended by skilled birth attendants.

”This shows the close relationship between the well being of the mother and the child, and justifies the need to integrate maternal, newborn and child health interventions.”