Over 84,870 Imo Women Benefit From NOA Advocacy

The National Orientation Agency (NOA) in Imo State says 84,876 women in the state benefited from its advocacy meetings on five Essential Family Practices (EFP) being promoted by UNICEF on child survival, protection and development.
The State Director of NOA, Mr Vitus Ekeocha, disclosed this to newsmen while  reviewing activities of the agency at the just concluded August Meeting of Imo women in Owerri.
He enumerated the five essential family practices to include exlusive breast feeding of infants for six months, full immunisation course for children before their first birthday,  recognising when sick children needed treatment outside the home and taking them to appriopriate providers for health care.
Others are disposal of faeces (including childres’s faeces) safely, washing of hands with soap before and after defecation and before preparing meals and feeding children.
He said that the advocacy was also to ensure that every pregnant woman recieved the recommended four antenatal visits, the recommended doses of tetanus toxoid vaccination and supported by the family and community in seeking appropriate care, especially at the time of delivery and during the postpartum/breastfeeding period in 20 communities in each of the 27 local government areas.
Ekeocha said  that over 540 communities had so far been visited by the NOA Chief Orientation and Mobilisation Officers in the 27 local government areas of Imo since the programme commenced in 2015.
According to him, August meetings provide a veritable platform to enlighten women on the essential family practices and guide members of the communities against untimely death of their children.