The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) says about one million Nigerian children die annually before their fifth birthday due to various diseases.
The Mandatory Secretary, Health and Environment Services Secretariat (HSES), Adedolapo Fasawe, said this on Friday at a press conference to kick off the 2024 FCT Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Week (MNCHW) vaccination.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the MNCHW vaccination exercise, which is free of charge for children aged 0 to 59 months, is scheduled to commence on July 20 and end on July 24.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary of FCTA, Babagana Adam, Ms Fasawe said the alarming mortality rate among children aged between 0 and 59 months had forced the FCTA to continuously conduct the vaccination exercise on an annual basis.
Mr. Fasawe said the prevalence of malnutrition among children in the FCT also made it necessary to carry out the exercise to rid Nigerian children of all forms of diseases.
“The rate of stunting is 21.2 percent, the rate of underweight is 12.1 percent and the rate of wasting is 3.0 percent.
“Wasting reflects global acute malnutrition (GAM), which remains unacceptably high to meet the World Health Organization (WHO) global target of less than 5 percent for GAM by 2025 (NDHS 2018).
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“Micronutrient deficiency malnutrition is also prevalent. The assessment conducted by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the latest SMART survey released in 2017 showed that vitamin A coverage for the FCT was 40.6 percent, which is far below the minimum target of 90 percent.
“The exclusive breastfeeding rate in FCT is 52 percent according to the MICS 2017 report. The maternal mortality rate in Nigeria is 512 deaths per 100,000 live births (NDHA, 2018), and 408 deaths per 100,000 live births in FCT.
“These rates are unacceptably low and preventive measures must be supported and promoted in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” he stressed.
According to Ms Fasawe, significant progress has been made through MNCHW in reducing current rates, but more needs to be done to ensure that all eligible children are covered by interventions that improve their nutritional status.
He said the MNCHW was a special week set aside by the Federal Government of Nigeria twice a year (May/June and November/December) to carry out key interventions at the grassroots level.
She added that the week focused on raising awareness and providing maternal, neonatal and child health services.
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The mandate secretary said the emphasis had shifted from stand-alone vertical campaigns to a more integrated approach to expose caregivers and children to key interventions that improved their health status.
He said the MNCHW vaccination exercise would provide services such as vitamin A supplementation for children between 6 and 59 months, deworming for children between 12 and 59 months and routine immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases for children aged 0 to 11 months.
“There will also be growth monitoring and promotion exercises, food demonstrations and nutritional assessment of children aged 6 to 59 months, birth registration, family planning services and handwashing demonstrations.
“Emphasis will also be placed on antenatal care and IPTp delivery to prevent malaria in pregnant women, HIV counselling and HCT testing, which have now been fully integrated into the MNCHW,” said Ms Fasawe.
He reiterated the need for all stakeholders including journalists to promote the MNCHW while calling on households in the six area councils of the FCT to cooperate with the medical officers who will be travelling to carry out the exercise.
(YAYA)