The Ogun government inaugurated its Maternal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII) to tackle maternal mortality issues in the state.

Speaking at the opening of the five-day co-creation workshop on Monday in Abeokuta, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Mohammed Ali Pate thanked President Bola Tinubu for launching the initiative nationally.

Mr Tinubu launched the Maternal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII) on Thursday.

MAMII prioritises life-saving interventions for women and newborns using supply- and demand-side strategies to strengthen healthcare services in the 172 most-affected local government areas.

Mr Pate underscored the importance of the initiative to the present and future of the country as it strives to improve the overall health and well-being of mothers and children.

He noted that the only way to achieve a great reduction in maternal mortality is to manifest synergies between federal, state, and local governments.

“No one level of government is able to do this alone, and that’s the spirit—that we have one conversation around the result that matters—one budget, one reporting, and that we’re all pulling our weights together in a common direction.

“We’re manifesting synergies between the federal, state, and local governments, and that’s the only way we can achieve this. In addition, given the diversity of this country, an Abuja-created solution is not going to solve it because the issues are peculiar, depending on which part of the country you are,” he said.

Mr Pate said the multi-sectoral determinant of maternal and newborn mortality plays a significant role in the vulnerability of women to complications during pregnancy; hence, it has to be tackled.

“Education of our mothers also matters—the nutritional status matters. Maternal anaemia is a strong predictor of maternal complications and death, as well as even child mortality. So, addressing those requires a multi-sectoral lens to it,” he said.

He revealed that 774 facilities, which would be referral points for these women, have been identified for upgrading and have been empanelled by the NHIA to provide free treatment of emergency obstetrics complications.

He added that eligible women who visit these facilities would be treated when they have emergency complications requiring a Caesarian section or other interventions.

In her remarks, Ogun commissioner for health, Tomi Coker, described the co-creation workshop as a milestone “in our collective efforts” to improve maternal and newborn outcomes in Ogun State.

She noted that the workshop is an opportunity to engage, strategise, and align efforts with evident solutions that would significantly reduce maternal and newborn mortality.

Ms Coker urged participants to approach the discussions with an open mind and a spirit of innovation, and a commitment to actionable solutions.

In his submission, the Ogun coordinator of MAMII, Dayo Adeyanju, said the statistics of maternal mortality in the country are “unacceptable,” hence the need for a drastic reduction in the number.

He noted that there had been several attempts and initiatives by successive governments to reduce the number.

“Our maternal mortality stands at over 500 per every 100,000 live births, and for this reason, we just must crash these statistics,” he said.

While giving an overview of how the five-day workshop would go, Mr Adeyanju said the education of the girl child is paramount to reducing maternal mortality in the country.

According to him, the workshop would focus on the major reasons for the rise in maternal mortality cases and a field trip to two local government areas for verbal and social autopsies on the prevalence in such communities.

“By Friday, we will hand back to the deputy governor and the commissioner the interventional pathway we would have designed to activate and ensure elimination of maternal deaths in Ogun State,” he said. 

(NAN)