Oct 9th, 2009
Ondo Plans ‘Abiye Scheme’ for Pregnant Women
As part of efforts to reduce infant and maternal mortality rate among residents of Ondo State, the government has concluded arrangement with the World Bank for the execution of a N1 billion special healthcare programme in which pregnant women would get personalised care from trained health workers across the state.
Under the arrangement, to which the global body would be contributing counterpart funding of $3.4 million, each pregnant woman registered with the project would be assigned specific healthcare worker and be provided with telephone line to reach the assigned officer in case of emergency or distress.
Already, 5,000 such lines that would charge no cost, if it was made to specified health workers who would also be issued with same, have been provided by a GSM telecom company. The lines will be made available to pregnant beneficiaries in collaboration with the state government.
Part of the initiative is also the establishment of Health Rangers Scheme to be made up of trained officers who would be equipped with communication gadgets and mobility machines and who are to maintain constant contacts with pregnant women assigned to them individually to monitor their health and offer immediate assistance when needed.
The novel idea, which the state governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, had said would assist the government to monitor the health of the citizens, also included provision of more health facilities at each political units of the state to make such facilities available within the reach of the people.
Tagged “Abiye Scheme,” the mainly rural-driven initiative is aimed at reducing considerably, the high infant and maternal mortality rate in the state which was put at 10 per cent of children below the age of five and same percentage of mortality of pregnant women in the course of labour.
6 Responses to “Ondo Plans ‘Abiye Scheme’ for Pregnant Women”
I sincerely wish Ondo State the very best of luck in this venture. Bringing down mortality rates in infants in Africa is an issue of global concern. I see this scheme as one that is well needed and not misguided. Posterity will bless this move and Ondo State will definitely be rescuing a lot of pregnant women and their unborn children in the rural areas. My concern is that it is not extented to protecting the under 5s as well, from childhood diseases and malnutrition, so that mortality in infants under the age of 5 is also brought down.
As a daughter of a former “Iya Abiye, aroso gbade ole” I really hope the scheme works and success is recorded.
Peace my people
Kudos to the governor. This is an initiative that is well-intentioned and I hope it will be successfully implemented. This is what we need to do. We should make technology work for us as is done in civilized societies. With a telephone call and a ready health care personnel to respond, lives of pregnant women and their unborn child in danger could be saved. The governor should also invest in effective record keeping so that people can assess the effectiveness of this program in years to come.
Jesusfreak’s anger and frustration must not be taken as an aberration or as a lone voice in the wilderness. There are millions of citizens in Nigeria who have been ostracised from the system by the political elite. If it must be reiterated, Mr Jesusfreak is saying politicians and public servants in general are only governing for themselves and their cliques, billions of naira awarded for contracts that never materialise; 200 people employed in a section of a ministry where only 5 staff will be sufficient for the task etc. How do you convince someone like him that there is hope for the future in Nigeria?
Mr Jesusfreak, the best thing to do is to continue be alert to the excesses of our public servants. We must not relent in our effort to bring about a just and equitable society.
Well thought out programme but hope it will be speedily implemented and not moribund in the hay sack of politics & bureaucracy, kudos to the people governor!!!
Vanguard newspaper of Saturday October 17th carried a report on the state of the Lagos – Benin Road. . A journey that normally would take 3 hours from Lagos to Benin now takes 9 hours we are told. Let’s hear from one of those victims who travelled on the road recently (Excerpts from the Vanguard):
“God in His infinite mercy will punish those leaders who are subjecting us to this hardship. I left Lagos 7.30am last Sunday for Onitsha. It is now 12midnight, we are just approaching Ore 1. When then are we going to get to Onitsha?. Has it not turned into two days journey.”
Another passenger in a smaller bus said they manouvered through the thick bush before they got out near Ore 1 around 5p.m. “Ordinarily, one should have been happy for escaping the heavy traffic build up inside Ore but we got out through the bushes in pieces.
While we were manouvering our way inside the thick bushes around Ore, some heavily armed youths whom we thought were just out to collect tolls attacked the long convoy of small buses. Many of us were wounded while we lost all our money and valuables”, he explained.
The Honourable?? Minister for transport went to the same road about three years ago and promised swift action. Nothing has been done since. Perhaps swift action means five or more years in Nigerian parlance? Seven point agenda indeed.
This is a tip of the iceberg of Mr JesusFreak’s frustration.
Agreed and this helluva has been ongoing for much over three years. Not much if anything at all has been done. Isnt the Lagos – Benin road Federal? Isnt it one of the most popular if not most of the Federal link roads that has now become a death trap? Nigeria is really in a rot. Wish the different State Governments affected i.e Lagos, Ogun, Ondo and Edo would take it up with the Federal Government and insist on action sooner than later. Even many interstate roads are bad, and the ordinary Nigerian watch on in despair…
In the meantime, we are hearing stories of Senators and top governmental officials of Nigeria buying properties abroad, lavishing millions on concubines and girlfriends buying them state of the art vehicles, globetrotting and what have you…
In the meantime, more deals are being made that will keep enriching the “favoured” few…
I pray Ondo State is spared this sorry mess for it would be more than a disaster if after everything that has happened in the past three years we hear of any Ondo State top official engaging in corrupt practices and getting richer and richer at the expense of the masses… and oh of Democracy.
This is why the watchful eyes will not spare the fingers on the keyboards if any shaddy deal is discovered. We should be EXPOSING these bastards!
Peace my people.