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SO15 – Increased Use of Child Survival and Reproductive Health Services in Target Areas photo of participants at the Peace Network

Delivery and use of child survival and reproductive health services in Nigeria is weak. High child and maternal morbidity and mortality and high fertility translate into rapid and unsustainable population growth. Availability and use of affordable child survival and maternal health services is appallingly low. At least 20 percent of Nigerian children will die before their fifth birthday.
Fertility is high, birth intervals are short, and contraceptive prevalence is low. Health indicators are much worse in the
predominantly Muslim North than in the rest of the country, demonstrating regional imbalance and inequity. The lack of access to basic health services, particularly in the North, is encapsulating successive generations of the poor deeper and deeper into poverty, further marginalizing communities and fueling the potential for unrest. Addressing child and maternal health problems in the North is a critical element of the Mission’s Muslim outreach strategy and will help resolve underlying causes of unrest.
This SO carries forward the maternal, child and reproductive health elements of the Mission’s former SO 13, “Increased Use of Social Sector Services”; the education components of the former integrated SO are addressed in SO16, Increased Demand for Quality Education and Training. This approach will better align the Mission SOs with the four hurdles Nigerian youth face from birth to adulthood and enhance the capacity of each SO to efficiently manage resources and achieve results. The two teams will coordinate closely and where appropriate, integration of health and education activities at the community level will be sustained. SO15 will foster a healthier and more productive population by controlling malaria, combating polio, strengthening routine immunization, and providing quality reproductive health services in targeted states. Malaria prevention and treatment efforts will be concentrated in the hyperendemic states of the south, including Rivers, Delta, and Akwa Ibom, while integrated maternal and child health services, polio eradication and routine immunization efforts will be extended from the current three to six additional northern states, including Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, Zamfara, and Sokoto and the Federal Capital Territory. Working in local communities, the SO will continue to implement proven interventions to address health issues impacting children under five, particularly malaria. The SO will provide resources and technical assistance to support ongoing donor-coordinated immunization activities with a particular focus on interruption of the polio virus. In addition, the SO will continue to improve the quality, access, and demand for reproductive health service through capacity building of personnel, upgrading of facilities, and contraceptive social marketing. Engagement with religious leaders and other community opinion leaders, and development of culturally appropriate and innovative behavior change communication materials will be expanded. Finally, at the policy level, the SO team will further targeted policies and legislation towards approval and implementation.
The key focus areas of immunization, reproductive health and malaria control will be addressed by the following program Components:
• Prevent and Control Infectious Diseases of Major Importance
• Improve Child Survival, Health, and Nutrition
• Improve Maternal Health and Nutrition
• Support Family Planning
Results: Increasing access to essential services directly contributes to greater stability in the North. While service delivery is poor nationwide, it is weakest in the North where the potential for unrest may be triggered by the lack of investment in and inadequate delivery of social services. By providing health services to marginalized populations in the North, where poor health conditions and quality of life threaten to foster extremism, the Mission is addressing a key challenge to Nigeria’s national stability. By 2009, principal outcomes of the mission’s health service delivery program in target states and local government areas will include an increase in the use of modern contraceptives from 8 percent to 11 percent, an increase in DPT3 coverage from 12 percent to 30 percent, 4.2 million women of reproductive age receiving quality family planning and reproductive health services, reduced prevalence of malaria in an estimated 9 million women and children, comprehensive child survival interventions reaching more than two million children under the age of five, and nutrition interventions reaching an estimated 5.7 million underfives and school age children.
Risk Factors: Nigeria has made some progress in the reform of child survival and reproductive health policy and improving the quality of health services available in selected states. Failure to harmonize the roles of representatives and government officials at the local, state, and federal level, would severely threaten the continuation and sustainability of these reforms. Further, a
failure to provide quality health services in the North could further alienate Muslim communities.

 

Last Updated on: March 05, 2009