George Ugwu, the health commissioner in Enugu,  has called on influential, wealthy Nigerians and private organisations to adopt public health facilities in their communities.

Mr Ugwu, a professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, made the call on Sunday in Enugu while further explaining his ‘Community Health Stewardship model’, which he proposed while delivering the 251st inaugural lecture of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).

The 251st UNN Inaugural Lecture, which was delivered on Thursday, had the title ‘The Mother, the Child and the State: My Triumphant Journey from Evidence to Action’. He noted that effective community contributions, through community health stewardship, would supplement public funding.

According to him, women, young people, persons with disabilities, poor households and marginalised settlements need meaningful representation or someone formidable to stand for them and ensure access to quality healthcare always gets to them in health facilities in their locality.

He also recommended protecting the health workforce, making health data usable, and translating it into health impact for people.

Mr Ugwu, a research clinician with over two decades of experience, noted that the main clinical causes of maternal and newborn mortality were well known.

He said that high-quality University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN)skilled attendance at birth, timely emergency obstetric and newborn care, blood transfusion, safe surgery, newborn resuscitation, family planning and appropriate postnatal care would check maternal death or close-to-death situations (maternal near-miss).

The don noted that the persistent burden of newborn mortality, maternal mortality and maternal near-miss therefore reflects more than a shortage of medical knowledge.

According to him, a clinically effective intervention has no effect when the woman cannot access it, the facility does not provide it, the health worker lacks the required tools, the family cannot afford it, or the institution does not learn from previous failures.

Mr Ugwu was credited with making pivotal contributions to public health and clinical medicine as a clinician and technocrat, with over 70 academic research publications to his credit.

(NAN)