Category: Uplifting Maternal,Neonatal,Child Health

This campaign aims at encouraging mothers and caregivers to vaccinate their wards free of charge against measles in anyOgun State health facility or mobile centre, in order to reduce the mortality rate among children in the state. While flagging-off of the 2016 edition, Mrs.Olufunso Amosun said measles is a highly contagious viral illness and one of the six childhood killer diseases,whose mortality was high among malnourished children especially in children less than five years of age living in overcrowded condition. With the high attendance of mothers and babies at the flag-off event, Mrs. Amosun seized the opportunity to administer the polio vaccine to all the non-vaccinated babies in attendance too and encouraged the women to take full advantage of this free exercise for the benefit of their growing children by spreading the news of the programme to those in their neighborhood and local communities.

In September 2015, the Wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari allotted several cartons of Frisonum Gold Milk to wives of governors of various states for onward distribution to breast-feeding mothers and pregnant women across the federation. Frisonum is a nourishing food supplement which provides required nutrients to expectant and nursing mother to assist them during the nursing period. During the distribution, it was emphasized that Frisonum is not a baby formula and that exclusive breast-feeding where possible, is still favored and most beneficial choice for mother and child.

One of her first major outings as the Wife of the Former Governor was the flagging-off ceremony of the 2011 Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Week in Abeokuta in June 2011, where she charged mothers to always ensure that their wards/children are well fed with nourished foods in order to reduce infant mortality. She explained that if children were adequately fed with well-nourished foods, they would have the needed immunity against diseases responsible for child mortality. “It is sad that Nigeria is ranked 15th as one of the countries in the world with the highest rate of child mortality particularly for children within 0-5 years,” she said. Mrs. Amosun added that the causes of the high child mortality among children under the age of five years are malaria, Diarrhea, Acute Respiratory ((ART) infection and preventable diseases. She said all these diseases are preventable if only adequate proactive steps are taken at the right time. The Wife of the Former Governor also flagged-off the School-based Deworming Exercise, which was organised in collaboration with Emzor Pharmaceuticals Limited on November 9, 2011. The exercise was conducted for primary and secondary school students across the 20 Local Government Areas of the State to reduce worm infection among children. According to her, “Worm infection could make children sick and retard their growth which is the reason we are taking this exercise to the nooks and crannies of Ogun State to save our future generation from preventable disease that could affect their education and future.” Her message to the parents is clear: to cooperate with health workers and ensure regular de-worming of their children. She reiterated the Amosun led administration’s commitment to tackling the infection which is germane to the implementation of the policy health programme of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targeted at increasing the rate of children’s survival. A free dose of Zolat worm expeller was administered on the children.