The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration has inaugurated a task force under the Maternal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII) to coordinate efforts to reduce maternal and newborn deaths across communities.

The FCT mandate secretary, Dr Dolapo Fasawe, said on Friday in Abuja that the task force would remain operational as long as women continued giving birth in the territory.

Ms Fasawe said the task force would oversee interventions targeting pregnant women, health facilities, communities, traditional leaders and transport workers involved in the emergency movement of pregnant women requiring urgent care.

She charged members with using the MAMII document to develop work plans and holding government officials and the national coordinator accountable for implementing agreed interventions across the territory.

The mandate secretary said MAMII and its partners remained committed to supporting the FCT in ensuring maternal mortality became a thing of the past through sustained interventions.

MAMII is a flagship federal government initiative designed to accelerate action towards reducing preventable maternal and newborn deaths nationwide through community engagement.

The initiative also seeks to improve access to quality maternal and newborn healthcare services, strengthen referral and emergency response systems and implement interventions tailored to local realities.

Earlier, the executive secretary of the FCT Primary Health Care Development Board, Dr Dan Gadanma, said the activation followed Fasawe’s commitment to prioritising the welfare of women and children.

Mr Gadanma said the FCT was initially excluded from MAMII because its maternal mortality rate was comparatively lower than those of other states across the country.

He, however, said Ms Fasawe insisted that even one maternal death was unacceptable, leading to the territory’s inclusion in the initiative and activation of interventions to save lives.

He said the activation workshop involved engagements with communities and individuals who had experienced maternal health challenges to identify practical interventions for implementation in the territory.

Also speaking, the national coordinator of MAMII, Dr Dayo Adeyanju, said the FCT became the 34th state to join the initiative focused on reducing maternal mortality.

Mr Adeyanju said the initiative had been activated in states accounting for about 65 per cent of Nigeria’s maternal mortality burden, with the federal government supporting implementation efforts.

He said MAMII had helped states identify drivers of maternal and newborn deaths, develop response plans and inaugurate task forces to coordinate interventions and improve health outcomes.

According to him, the interventions have contributed to a 17 per cent reduction in maternal mortality in less than two years, representing significant progress in healthcare delivery.

Mr Adeyanju said field assessments in the FCT identified delays in accessing care, socio-cultural barriers, transportation challenges, financial constraints and inadequate awareness as key contributing factors.

He urged pregnant women to complete antenatal care and deliver in appropriate health facilities, noting that some women attended clinics regularly but delivered elsewhere.

The coordinator also encouraged residents to enrol in health insurance schemes, saying eligible women could access Caesarean sections without direct payment under available support programmes.

He added that emergency transportation services and social assistance mechanisms were also available to support vulnerable women and families facing healthcare-related challenges during pregnancy and childbirth.

A beneficiary of the initiative, Augustina Kalu, said MAMII assisted her family in settling hospital bills after she developed unexpected complications following childbirth and required specialist treatment.

Ms Kalu said she was placed on oxygen and received other medical care at the National Hospital before recovering and being discharged.

She said the situation became more distressing because she was already managing high blood pressure and worried about how her family would pay the medical expenses.

According to her, she became excited when her husband told her the hospital bills had been fully settled through MAMII’s intervention.

Ms Kalu expressed gratitude to those who supported her treatment, describing the assistance as unexpected and a major relief that eased her family’s burden.

She prayed for continued strength and resources for individuals and organisations supporting vulnerable women and families to access quality healthcare services when they need them most.

(NAN)