Awka
Anambra state government on Tuesday, took delivery of a total of one thousand, two hundred and twelve delivery kits from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The kits are to ease the burden of the cost of delivery for pregnant women, especially at the rural places with high rate of poverty and for victims of flood.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike received the kits on behalf of the State government, from the Anambra state Reproductive Health Coordinator, Dr. Uju Okoye, who had collected the items from the UNICEF.
Receiving the kits, the Health Commissioner noted that during the 2022 flood menace, the wife of the governor of Anambra state, Dr. Nonye Soludo, who he said, is passionate about the plights of mothers and pregnant women in the state, personally produced and donated about one thousand delivery kits to women.
Obidike said at the ceremony, the governor’s wife had pleaded with some Development Partners to support the state government in that regard.
“This was why the UNICEF responded and we are grateful to the wife of the governor for raising that demand for assistance and to the UNICEF for heeding to the governor’s wife’s call,” he said.
Dr. Obidike disclosed that they witnessed over one hundred deliveries during the last year’s flooding in the various holding centres across Anambra.
According to him, among the challenges observed was the inability of the pregnant women to provide the delivery kits because of how they left their homes in a hurry due to the flood.
He said the delivery kits will assist the women in having proper deliveries this time, as well reduce delivery costs in some areas.
The Anambra Health Commissioner maintained that the kits would be first distributed to hard-to-reach areas in the state, and advised pregnant mothers to always go for antenatals for them to have safe deliveries.
He made it clear that governor Chukwuma Soludo’s administration is desirous of uplifting the health indices of the state, even as he pointed out that their mission is to eradicate maternal deaths to the barest minimum in the state.
“We encourage our women especially at the rural places to always go for antenatal, because that is where these kits will be distributed.
“During the antenatal services, a lot of checks are run and so many things that would have gone wrong are identified and corrected,” he said.
While handing over the kits to the Commissioner, the Anambra state Reproductive Health Coordinator, Dr. Uju Okoye said the delivery kits will help to reduce cost of delivery, reduce maternal deaths and help those who might be affected by flood to have seamless delivery.
Dr. Okoye revealed that the distribution of the kits is already ongoing in the state and commended wife of the governor, Dr. Soludo for her support and doggedness that saw to the donation of the delivery kits by the UNICEF.
