Mohammed Shosanya
The World Health Organisation has warned Nigeria and 59 other countries may miss the maternal, newborn, and stillborn targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) without urgent intervention.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organisation,gave the warning while addressing delegates at the ongoing Maternal and Newborn Health Conference in Cape Town, South Africa .
The WHO boss maintained that infant deaths continued to make up about half of the under-five mortality, especially in Central and Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan African countries such as Nigeria.
“Every year, 4.5 million mothers, newborns, and stillborns die from preventable causes,” he said in his keynote statement during the first plenary of the four-day event that began on Monday, May 8 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
“Where a child is born or how much money its family has should not determine whether it lives or dies. But, this is still the reality for many women and babies worldwide,” the WHO chief said.
In his statement delivered through a live video link at the first plenary,Dr. Ghebreyesus, emphasized that urgent action was needed to reignite progress which could save 7.8 million lives.
He implored countries to develop and finance evidence-based plans for maternal and newborn health and to integrate relevant programs into their respective universal health coverage packages and deliver them through primary healthcare.
