By Mohammad Ibrahim
Kaduna (Nigeria) – Airtel Nigeria has joined the fight to end maternal and infant deaths in rural communities in Kaduna state, northwest Nigeria.
The Company is doing that through a mobile-phone platform, dubbed CommCare which supports Community Health Workers (CHWs) in rural parts of Kaduna state.
The mobile platform serves as an aid in supervision and coordination of community health programmes, by providing a guide to Community Health Workers and assisting them with an electronic questionnaire to collate data on pregnancy, childbirth and condition of infants and mothers.
The platform also guide Community Health Workers to refer mothers and infants that are in need of medical attention to nearby hospitals, or Primary Health Care centres located in Saulawa, Kwari, Fadama Kale and Pampaida in Ikara LG.
Airtel Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, Chinedo Manjor who announced this to newsmen at a press briefing in Kaduna said, the Home Based Care Providers will deliver better, more efficient healthcare to the targeted beneficiaries in the village.
He said the company was prompted to join the fight because of the alarming rates of maternal, infant and child mortality in northern Nigeria.
He said the mobile company in partnership with Pampaida Millennium Villages Project in the state was able to provide toll-free lines (commcare platform) to assist in the fight against maternal deaths in the remote village of Pampaida.
Manjor added that the effort was in line with the company’s corporate social responsibility to the rural communities.
Health Coordinator and Assistant Team Leader of Millennium Villages Project in Pampaida village of Kaduna state, Ojo Eyitayo Adedotun commended the mobile phone company for its support towards reducing maternal deaths in the region.
“Our partnership with Airtel has really help to improve maternal and infant mortality in the state, particularly in Pampaida villages. Japan government is the core donor of the project,” he said.
According to him, “they have trained youths and women who are working on data collection of pregnant women and sick infants within the villages and they use the toll lines to forward information gathered to the centre, or their supervisors for appropriate action.”
Roseline Nuhu, one of the beneficiaries of the project in the village commended the mobile company for coming to their village to help tackle maternal and infant deaths.
Available statistics by World Health Organisation shows that maternal deaths in northern Nigeria stands at over one thousand deaths per one hundred thousand live births.
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