By Joy Odor
For Kaduna to reduce its high rate of maternal death, the state must raise the number of women spacing their births from the 507,017 figure of 2015 to 856,183 by the end of next year.
This was stated by a Development Journalist, Iliya Kure at a two day intensive training of Kaduna-Based Online Journalists, Bloggers and Social Media Operators on effective reportage of Family Planning, organized by Development Communications Network with support from the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative-NURHI.
“Nigeria has developed a Family Planning Blueprint which all the states have adopted; some states have gone far in implementing, though others are still lagging behind. The idea of the National Blueprint launched in 2014, is to have 36% of Nigerian women of reproductive age spacing their birth by the end of next year,” he said.
Mr. Kure who was also a Child Birth Spacing Advocate said according to an analysis conducted in 2015 by a non-governmental organization–Palladium Group—for the State to reach this goal, about 350,000 married women need to start childbirth spacing to improve their health, and that of their babies.
“Kaduna State government has budgeted N100 million naira to be spent in 2017 on items like cotton wool, syringes, hand gloves and the likes, to make child birth services free of charge to all interested women. Absence of these have discouraged many women from accessing the services,” he said
He opined that if the state government meets the target, 4,000 maternal deaths and 28,000 children’s death would be averted by end of next year.
The Development Journalist recommended that families should space the birth of their children for twenty-four months to reduce the risk of maternal and children deaths.
