Amina Ahmed
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has urged media practitioners to develop programmes and platforms focused on promoting and empowering women.
Mr Oluseyi Olusunde, Health Officer, UNICEF Bauchi Field Office, made the call at a two-day media dialogue to commemorate the 2024 International Women’s Day celebration in Gombe recently.
The media dialogue with the theme: ”Invest in Women: She’s the Solution” was organised by UNICEF for journalists drawn from Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Plateau and Taraba.
Olusunde explained that such programmes would help women in achieving Sustainable Development Goal (3), Good Health and Well-being.
According to him, the programmes will create more information that will contribute to saving the lives of mothers and children in the states.
Olusunde stressed that the programmes should be geared towards discussing information with experts on issues around the Traditional Birth Attendance (TBA) strategy to deliveries.
“Pregnant women attending antenatal and undergoing some tests and vital signs are checked during each session.
“63.5 per cent of deliveries come with haemorrhage, so the government said home delivery is dangerous.
“TBA is to mobilise and refer to health facilities for deliveries, to prevent life-threatening complications such as sepsis and postpartum haemorrhage,” he said.
Olusunde advised that attitude and knowledge should be the centrepiece in reducing the burden of maternal and child mortality among women of reproductive age.
“Let’s begin to see programmes on women and their responsibilities during pregnancy, delivery and postpartum and complications.
“Bring the wife of a political office holder for an interactive session and come with the fact sheets to discuss issues on saving mothers and children,” he said.
The health officer emphasized that maternal, neonatal and child health remained a collective responsibility of all and sundry.
He added that mass education platforms should be promoted to scale up awareness in society