The Rotary International President, Gordon Mclnally, has advocated for the expansion of the organization’s $2million maternal and child advancement project to the 36 states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Rotary International project with the theme “Together for Healthy Families in Nigeria” is currently being implemented in six states and is expected to last for three years.
The Rotary President, McNally, who is visiting Nigeria for the first time, made the call in Abuja on Saturday during a Rotary Community Dialogue held at the Kuchingoro Primary School.
Mclnally described the “Together for Healthy Families in Nigeria” project as “wonderful”, noting its impact across the country.
He also said Nigeria must continue to sustain its strategy to ensure that the country remains polio-free.
“One of the things that we need to continue doing (in Nigeria) is to be vigilant and to continue our surveillance to ensure that Nigeria remains polio free. But also the project we are visiting here today is a wonderful project.
“It’s a multifactorial project. It’s a project improving families here in Nigeria. And of course, it’s doing that by giving women access to reproductive advice, giving women access to contraception, encouraging the men in their lives to be part of that decision-making process, and it’s also encouraging pregnant women to take good care of themselves during their pregnancy and then at the point of delivery.
“Because as we know, many women
continue to have babies at home, and that is where the mortality is highest. If these ladies can have their babies and deliver their babies safely in a clinic environment, then the chances of them suffering the ultimate of losing their life, suffering in the delivery, and the possibility of the babies being delivered stillborn or losing their lives in an early stage is very much reduced.
“I would encourage everybody to look at this project, at the moment, it’s a project operating in six of the 36 states here in Nigeria.
“With appropriate funding, I’m convinced it could be rolled out to all 36 states including the Federal Capital Territory here in Abuja and that way we could see a huge difference in the mortality rate among delivering mothers and neonatal babies.
“At this stage, Rotary has committed $2m to the project, and there has been a further close to a million US dollars being committed within Nigeria itself.
“It’s a three-year project at present, a pilot project that is bearing good results already and will prove itself and then hopefully will qualify for further funding from many different sources.” He said.
Mclnally also expressed optimism that donors would support the project.
“There are many grants in store for Nigeria. The way the Rotary Foundation, which is our charitable arm operates, is that we seek bids for grants and I know that bids are coming in from Nigeria all the time for various projects across all of our areas of focus, across education, across health, across maternal and child care, across water and sanitation, economic development, peace, which is a very important aspect of Rotary’s work and the environment,” he added.
Meanwhile, the National Coordinator of Together for Healthy Families in Nigeria, Prof. Dolapo Lufadeju, said Rotary Nigeria is working in over 500 PHCs across the country where several different interventions are being undertaken by Rotary.
Chinedum Anayo