Govt trains 105 officers on maternal, neonatal health

The MNCHW week, slated for July 17 to 21, will hold in selected health facilities in communities across the state, according to Mr Bolarinwa Ogundusi, the Kogi State Nutrition Officer/MNCHW Focal Person.

He said that the health workers, drawn from the 21 local governments, would undergo a two-day training programme and would be expected to train others so as ensure a large pool of workers for the MNCHW week.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the health officers included immunisation officers, nutrition coordinators, maternal child and health coordinators, malaria elimination officers and state technical facilitators.

He said that the MNCHW week would witness free primary health care services for pregnant women and children aged 6 months and 59 months.

“The aim is to reduce and eradicate maternal, infant mortality and morbidity rate in the state,” he said.

He said that the training would also review the performances in the previous MNCHW, look at the gaps, weaknesses and strength, and try to improve on them and readjust where necessary.

According to him, the MNCHW week will also focus on thematic areas like Vitamin A supplementation, malaria net distribution, antenatal care, immunisation, birth registration, family planning, deworming, various screenings, among others

One of the trainees, Mr Michael Eseyin, from Mopamuro Local Government, told NAN that he had understood new ideas and benefited a lot from the refresher training.

“It is a routine service that we render; we will go down to our various local government areas to train other health workers for effective implementation of the MNCHW,” Eseyin said.