The National Population Commission has begun a study to determine the causes of maternal and child mortality in Nigeria and tackle the scourge.

The Chairman of the Commission, Nasir Kwarra, disclosed this on Friday in Abuja during a media conference.

According to him, the 2024 Verbal and Social Autopsy (VASA) Study which is being carried out across the 36 states and the FCT began on November 4 and will end on December 15.

Mr Kwarra said that the study was a research seeking to obtain data to determine the causes and contributory factors to deaths in children under five years and in women of reproductive age.

He said, “The objectives of the study includes the provision of up-to-date information on early childhood and maternal mortality, cultural, behavioural, social and health system factors of neonatal (death of a live-born infant within the first 28 days of life), infant and under-five mortality, and women of reproductive age. The study will be conducted in households where the deaths were recorded and consent received for revisit during the 2023-2024 Nigeria Demographic Health Survey. The result of the study will provide national and zonal level estimates of the major causes of under-five and maternal mortality in the country. Furthermore, it will make available patterns of care-seeking, social factors, and interventions received as related to deaths in children less than five years of age, along with qualitative narratives of factors associated with these patterns.”

It would also assist policymakers with reliable data to plan and formulate policies for the health sector in relation to maternal and child health in Nigeria.

The chairman said that the 2024 edition of the survey was the third in the series conducted by NPC and that the first time the study was conducted in Nigeria was in 2014 and subsequently in 2019.

Explaining the format the study would employ, Mr Kwarra said that as a follow up to the 2023-2024 NDHS, one randomly selected death in a household with an under-five death, was sampled from the NDHS.

He stated, “A total of 2,342 adult female deaths and 2,537 under-five mortality cases were selected out of which 31 per cent of the under-five deaths (969) are neonates while 69 per cent (1,567) are children. For the 2024 VASA study, there will be two sets of interviewing teams on the field. These are qualitative and quantitative teams. The quantitative team will focus more on responses from caregivers in the households while the qualitative team will focus on group discussions and in-depth interviews within the community in addition to the household interviews.”

Citing the 2023-2024 NDHS, Mr Kwarra said that under-five mortality in Nigeria was high at 110 deaths per 1,000 births, adding that every available tool must be deployed to combat and curb the challenge in society.

This, he said, underscored the importance of generating reliable data on the causes and determinants of neonatal, infant and child mortality in Nigeria.

He added, “The commission is strategically prepared and committed to generating this data to aid planning in the health sector, to this end, all necessary steps have been put in place to make sure that the 2024 VASA survey is successfully implemented. I am optimistic that the data will be used by policymakers and other stakeholders to formulate policies, design and implement programmes that will go a long way in reducing neonatal, child and maternal mortality to the barest minimum in Nigeria.”

He, however, urged government officials at the states and local government levels, security agencies, traditional rulers, religious leaders, community leaders and the media to give the necessary support for the success of the exercise.

The survey is being conducted by NPC in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and other key ministries, departments and agencies.

(NAN)