By Chinonso Alozie,

COMMUNITY leaders in Imo State, have been advised to include as part of the agenda in their town hall meetings, the issues of maternal care, child survival and development.

This was the highlight of discussions captured by South East Voice, at the Community Governance Structures meeting organized by Imo State National Orientation Agency, NOA, and United Nations Children Fund, UNICEF, in Owerri.

A cross section of community leaders from Imo State, in a town hall meeting in Owerri organized by the Imo State National Orientation Agency and United Nations Children Fund, UNICEF.

Explaining the reasons behind the setting up of the platform, the state director of the NOA, Mr. Vitus Ekeocha, said that a survey carried out discovered that it was rare in a village meeting for the issues of maternal care and child survival took priority in the agenda to be discussed.

He said: “Rather, what they discuss seriously when they gather for their village meetings are how to get electricity, water, road and many other things. But the issue of how to ensure that the practices of maternal care and child survival are not given prominence.

“To achieve this, we called together the presidents general of communities, youths and women to assist in the sensitization of their members in their various communities to understand the need to adhere to practices that will promote healthy living with regard to saving motherhood and child survival and development.”

He recalled that “In 2015 and 2016, two representative of 75 communities each across the three senatorial zones in Imo State through this forum were galvanized to begin to place issues of child and development as well as maternal health care on their agenda of community meetings/activities.”

He added, “You will recall that for three years running, UNICEF and NOA have used this platform of forum of Community Governance Structures of selected communities in the three senatorial zones in Imo State to discuss issues of community development and improvement in maternal health amongst others.”