2,000 Children, 250 Women Die Daily – Expert

Not less than 2,000 children die daily worldwide due to inadequate access to medical treatment, and about 250 women die daily from birth-related ailments, paediatric expert, Prof. Alice Nte has said.

In a chat with newsmen after attending a one-day discussion forum organised by the Ministry of Women Affairs, tagged, “Women’s Health: The Progress, the Technique” in Port Harcourt, yesterday.

Prof. Nte, who is Director, Institute of Maternal and Child Health at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, while quoting reports from the World Health Orgisation averred that, “ignorance, poverty and disease are closely linked.”

According to her, mortality rate, has not decreased because of lack of access to medical facilities and up-to-date equipment.

She stressed the need for both women and their children to be immunised from various issues that usually beset them during delivery.

Prof. Nte revealed that the highest killer disease in children includes diarrhea which is responsible for about 17 per cent of deaths amongst children of five years and below.

On the other hand, a pharmacist and a State representative of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Elizabeth Odili harped on the need for more enlightenment and education among the womenfolk.

Mrs Odili stated that it was one way diseases and deaths could be curbed, particularly amongst rural women, observing that ignorance and lack of care are responsible for the high mortality rate.

The lady pharmacists also lamented the high rates of sexually transmitted diseases amongst teenagers and challenged government on the need to provide more enlightenment campaign since most times teenagers do not know the effect on their reproductive health.

Earlier in her speech, the state commissioner for Women Affairs, Barrister Mannuela Izunwa noted that women’s health has become an enormous challenge across every spectrum of society.