By Sade Oguntola
Copyright tribuneonlineng
THE Society for Family Health and the Oyo State Primary Health Care Development Agency (OYOPHCB) have underlined the value of nursing mothers actively participating in their children’s care through a variety of health interventions provided in medical facilities around the state.
Mr Ugochukwu Samson, Oyo State’s programme officer for demand creation at the walk and health talks to commemorate World Patient Safety Day at the Olorisaoko Primary Health Care (PHC) in Akinyele Local Government, told the mothers that self-care for newborns and children starts before conception through pregnancy and growth as children.
According to him, SFH’s interventions in the state have been to ensure the health of women and children through its many interventions, including the Delivering Innovation in Self Care (DISC) project targeting women of reproductive age on how to take charge of their family planning needs.
“Health starts with each woman. That is what we are out to tell them. Their safety of newborns and children starts with the appropriate preparations made, including before conception,” he added.
Mr Muyiwa Azeez, the State Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for the DISC project, said Oyo State is one of the few states with high maternal and infant mortality, and the reason SFH is supporting the state is to bring different interventions to its citizenry.
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He said, “Our aim is to sensitise both men and women on the safety of newborns and children; it is not just a woman’s responsibility. The health awareness talk was for over 200 women, and more than half of them are willing to take child spacing, despite the myths and misconceptions around family planning.”
Earlier, Mrs Adebola Oladele, the chief matron for Akinyele LGA, urged the women to always eat a balanced and adequate diet before, during and after pregnancy; protect themselves from malaria; exclusively breastfeed their babies for six months before adding complementary foods; and ensure their babies are fully vaccinated.
She stated that there are different family planning methods they can adopt for child spacing, including Sayana Press, a self-injected contraceptive.
She discouraged them from patronising untrained family planning providers to prevent complications and to be able to take a method that is suitable for their body.
Mrs Oladele said it is a myth that with family planning the frequency of urination will be more or that they wouldn’t be able to get pregnant when they are ready to have another baby.
The health educator for the local government, Mr Afeez Ibrahim, said both health workers and parents have roles to play in delivering safe care for children.
He said unsafe care can have lifelong consequences for children, and therefore sick children should always be taken to the health facilities promptly for care.
Mr Ibrahim added, “Planning one’s family also supports a healthy society; it will ensure women live long and well. At Olorisaoko PHC, we had enjoyed SFH’s support to provide care our women. They supply family planning commodities and consumables, give supportive supervision and ensure community mobilisers for family planning demand in the community.”
