Sierra Leone, a much smaller country in SSA, has implemented an actionable solution to combat its high maternal and infant deaths. Is this a pilot project, is it sustainable and, was needs assessment done properly? There are pitfalls in the programme, as they are currently experiencing, nevertheless hurray to the president and healthcare workers for putting some thing in place after much debate and strike.
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/2010/10/101008_sierraleonehealthcare.shtml This program came about due to the efforts of the Global Village; as in (a) Robert Zoellick, Director of the World Bank, (b) Mr. Gordon Brown of U.K who said "the World must be 'ashamed into stopping child deaths", "a few pence is the price of life or death for millions" he added, (c) Austria, Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom (Douglas Alexander- International Development Secretary) and (d) Centre for Progressive Health Financing.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8645968.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8271882.stm "This won't happen overnight but we hope in the years ahead we will see a shift in approach that will revolutionise health services in the world poorest countries. Poor health and poverty go hand-in-hand and so we must first improve people's health if we are to improve their lives" said Secretary Douglas Alexander.
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) contributes to the global high infant mortality rate. Nigeria is a major contributor (200-300 per 1000 live births), and to the estimated stillbirths of 32.2 per 1000 deliveries in SSA. The stillbirths for a period (2005) in Nigeria translated to a crude rate of 158.6 per 1000 deliveries, compare to 5.3 stillbirth rate per 1000 deliveries for developed countries. I want to bring this issue to bare and seek solutions in a public-private partnership model.
Nno, Welcome, Ola,
I visited Nigeria in 2006 and was bitten by a bug called High Infant Mortality Rate. I read about the issue in a local news paper in Abuja. This information was buttressed while on holidays in my father's village (Nnewi); an elderly woman informed my cousin and I of 2 infant deaths that Christmas week from childhood preventable illnesses. I was aghast. I sat down, dumfounded, then a flashback of I (as a child), at the end of civil war, women carrying their dying babies of kwashiorkor to my father's compound seeking relief; food, water, medicine anything to help their infants. In 2007 I returned to finish my graduate school in Public Health and my community health class provided a platform to research infant mortality rate. Hence, I wrote a paper on it, and proposed a three year strategic pyramid solution.
This blog is about being part of the solution:
(a) bringing the issue to bear
(b) envisioning seamless integrated strategies
(c) visualizing adapting innovative, sustainable solutions to mitigate variables that give rise to high infant deaths.
At issue is the continent of Africa. Some may say I gave money to Africa, yes you did but in reality you gave money for a project in Mali, or Sierra Leone or Liberia. That is 3 countries out of 50. From my research, high infant morality rate in SSA is attracting international, national and individual researchers seeking effective methods in implementing sustainable measures or solutions towards reversing the numbers. I am suggesting that more man power is needed to combat the problem at least in Nigeria.
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG_FS_4_EN.pdf
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