The Cross River State Government has said it would ensure that mother and child mortality rate is reduced by 50 percent in 2021, just as the State Government said at least 900, 000 young women of child-bearing age and 361, 127 children were targets.
The deputy Governor of the State, Prof. Ivara Esu, made this known in Calabar, during the flag off the Maternal Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) week.
Prof. Esu who was represented by the Health Commissioner, Dr Betta Edu, said, “for this campaign, the target is to see that we can reduce by 50 percent the mortality of mothers and children in Cross River State.
“We hope to immunise about 361, 127 children in hard to reach areas and also looking out for about 900,000 mothers within the reproductive age. We want to deliberately bring down infant mortality to a very insignificant level and it is the diligence of the health workers that will ensure its success.”
Also speaking, the Director General of the state Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Janet Ekpenyong, said the COVID-19 pandemic had made health services in the state challenging, thereby creating gaps in some areas, but that the campaign would seek to bridge any known gap.
She said: “Because of Covid-19, a lot of gaps have been created in terms of health services and we bridge these gaps with this kind of intervention. The MNCH is about integrated services, an opportunity to see that if there are gaps in nutrition, we will fill them.”
The coordinator of World Health Organisation (WHO) in the state, Raji Railwan, said the global body was ready to support Cross River in its efforts to provide health services to its people.
While calling mothers to key into the campaign, Julius Idoko, a representative of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, said every support would be given to Cross River to make its vision real.
In another development, the Cross River State Commissioner of Police, CP Abdulkadir Jimoh is dead. He reportedly died on Friday.
In a condolence message to the Nigeria Police and the family of the deceased, the State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, expressed shock and sadness over the death of the Commissioner.

By: Friday Nwagbara, Calabar