NAN-HG-9
Health
By Mohammed Lawal
Kaduna, Dec. 12, 2017 (NAN) The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ),Kaduna state council has called on its members to increase reportage of the situation of healthcare delivery at the grassroots.
Mr Adamu Yusuf, Chairman of the council, NUJ, made the call at the “2017 Media Africa Conference’’ organised by the Africa Media Development Foundation (AMDF), an NGO in Kaduna on Tuesday.
The theme of the conference is: “Maternal and New Child Healthcare (MNCH) in Nigeria: Progress, Opportunities and Challenges’’.
Yusuf said the call was important in view of the high number of women that died daily from avoidable maternal health complications.
“Every media organisation should establish a dedicated `Health Desk’ to effectively deal with the reportage of related issues.
“The NUJ will continue to give its support toward disseminating information and creating awareness on how to achieve and access efficient healthcare delivery services in Nigeria.
“ I commend the Africa Media Development Foundation for setting the pace and organising this conference,’’ the NUJ chairman said.
Declaring the conference open, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Hafsat Baba, decried the alarming maternal mortality record in Nigeria.
The commissioner, who was represented by her Special Assistant, Alhaji Mohammed Kabir-Adamu, however, lauded the media for playing a positive role in educating, informing and enlightening the public on health issues.
Baba said that there was a new, vibrant vigour in the way her ministry was handling issues relating to the health of women and children.
In his keynote address, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Paul Manya-Dogo, said the state government was making frantic efforts to increase access to healthcare facilities, especially at the grassroots.
Manya-Dogo, represented by Dr Dutse Musa of Monitoring and Evaluation Unit of the ministry, said the state government was constructing 225 primary healthcare facilities.
She said that a Primary Health Care (PHC) would be allocated to each political ward in the state.
According to her, the essence of embarking on such project is to increase access to health facilities and healthcare delivery, especially at the grassroots levels.
Also, Alhaji Mustapha Abubakr-Jumare, Co-Chairman, Kaduna Mortality Accountability Mechanism (KADMAM), said the budgetary allocation to health was not being `cash-backed’.
He advised government to be alive to its responsibilities as it was one thing to allocate budget and another to release funds for the budgetary allocation.
Earlier, the Coordinator of AMDF, Mrs Sekyen Dadik, said that no development project would succeed without the active contribution of the media.
She assured that the NGO would continue to expand its relationship with the media through partnership and workshops on developmental journalism, professional competences and budget analysis on health indices.
Dadik said there was need for constant public enlightenment and advocacy, to educate and encourage government and the public on the need to prioritise issues relating to maternal mortality.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that journalists were drawn from different media organisations within Kaduna and its environs. (NAN)
KLM/VIV/DUA
Editing by Vivian Ihechu/Dada Ahmed