The Federal Government, in collaboration with Pathfinder International, has reaffirmed its determination to enhance the adoption of self-care guidelines in all parts of the nation.
The Director, Reproductive Health, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Kayode Afolabi, stated this at a two-day orientation and data quality assessment on national self-care guidelines in Kano, on Tuesday.
He said the exercise was organized by the ministry and Pathfinder International to improve quality sexual and reproductive health services in general, pointing out that self-care was simply making every individual responsive to his or her health needs.
“We want to ensure that individuals have awareness as to their health status and what should be done at the right time. Every individual should take some basic steps before going to a primary health care.
“Kano is among the states in the country to strategically implement and orient themselves on self-care,” he said.
Afolabi advised the general public to position themselves to benefit from self-care, a shift in universal health coverage and a huge opportunity.
He maintained that the Ministry was working tirelessly to create awareness and channels of accessing self care, aimed at uplifting the health status of the general populace.
In the same vein, Dr. Amina Aminu, the Country Director, Pathfinder International, who also spoke at the event, said that the exercise was an important step towards improving access and quality of sexual and reproductive health services in general.
“I am honoured to be working very close with the Federal Ministry of Health and the Kano state Ministry of Health to adopt and push for the implementation of self-care guidelines in Nigeria.
“We just came out of a very crucial COVID-19 pandemic era, where mothers and young people in rural areas do not have adequate access to proper health care”, she said
Aminu further explained that it was important for every individual to have access to care for their own health, lamenting, however, that Nigeria lacked enough service providers, especially nurses and doctors, skilled professionals needed to cater to the population.
“Maternal and infant mortality is very high in the country, women and young people need to know their health status and manage their situation,” she added.
On his part, Dr. Rajab Ashiru, Director, Public Health and Disease Control, in the Kano state Ministry of Health, said self-care will help mothers, without them spending money.
Ashiru noted also that the new initiative would improve the uptake of family planning services and reduce the need for the use of service providers’ facilities.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the stakeholders, included supervisors of maternal and child health care (MCH) from all the 44 local government areas of the state. (NAN)