By Chidinma Chukwu, Abuja

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has inaugurated a task force to coordinate efforts to reduce maternal and newborn deaths across the six Area Councils of the territory.

Wike inaugurated the task force on Friday at the activation ceremony of the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative, MAMII, and a community outreach programme in Abuja.

The programme was organised by the SWAp Coordination Office in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Health Services and Environment Secretariat, HSES.

The FCT MAMII Task Team comprises officials of HSES, the six Area Councils, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, National Health Insurance Authority, NHIA, development partners, civil society organisations, religious bodies and traditional institutions.

Represented by the FCT Mandate Secretary for Health Services and Environment, Dr Dolapo Fasawe, Wike said the task force had a continuous mandate that would remain in force as long as women continued to give birth in the territory.

He charged members to oversee maternal health services across healthcare facilities and communities and work with community leaders and transport unions to ensure pregnant women had access to emergency transportation when required.

The FCT Administration also presented the task force with a policy document to guide its operations.

Wike directed members to study the document and develop a comprehensive work plan, assuring them of the continued support of the FCT Administration and development partners towards eliminating preventable maternal deaths in the territory.

“This task force is in charge of every pregnant woman, in charge of every facility, in charge of the community and Union of Road Transport Workers, who have been charged to transport our pregnant women in emergencies.

“You are able to hold the government accountable and hold even the National Coordinator accountable. Everything that is in this book, your role is to ensure that we do. We will make copies of this and give everyone one each. You will study it and come up with a work plan.

“MAMII and all our partners are committed to supporting you to make maternal mortality a thing of the past,” he said.

The National Coordinator of MAMII, Dr Dayo Adeyanju, said the initiative was launched in Nigeria last year and had since been implemented in 33 states.

Adeyanju said the programme had, over the past one and a half years, identified major drivers of maternal and newborn deaths in participating states while taking into account the peculiarities of each state.

He described the FCT as the 34th state to benefit from the initiative, adding that the task force was inaugurated alongside the handover of an action plan for reducing maternal mortality in the territory.

According to him, the Federal Government, in collaboration with state governments, had supported implementation of the plans, with early results already being recorded.

“So clearly, we are beginning to see the results. A 17 per cent drop in maternal mortality is not a joke in less than two years,” he said.

Adeyanju advised pregnant women to avoid patronising traditional birth attendants and encouraged them to enrol in health insurance schemes to reduce the financial burden associated with pregnancy and childbirth.

Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the FCT Primary Healthcare Development Board, Dr Dan Gadzama, said the board had been consulting communities and stakeholders to identify practical interventions for reducing maternal mortality in the territory.

Gadzama said the consultations included a four-day workshop during which officials engaged community members and people with firsthand experience of challenges surrounding maternal healthcare.

“Over the past four days, we’ve been having a workshop. We went into the community. We interacted with the community members, those that have the experience of what we are talking about.

“Based on those interactions, we have developed together, collectively, the interventions that are going to be implemented in the next course of months, years, to ensure that maternal mortality becomes a thing of the past in the FCT,” he said.