ACTIVITIES
Women and children in rural areas are not the only ones disproportionately affected by poor quality of maternal and child health care delivery. Those in communities few kilometers away from the city are faced with health threats also due to the absence of health facilities.
This was the case with Kakura community located in Kujama ward of Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State. NOTAGAIN Campaign media team visited this community and found very disturbing revelation with respect to accessing health care.
Development Communications Network, DEVCOMS, and Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative, NURHI recently organized a two-day training for journalists and On-Air Personalities to effectively report family planning stories in Lagos, Ibadan and Kaduna.
Bringing together the media personalities, the focus of the training were drawn from the strategic cities where the need for the reduction of maternal mortality and child mortality have become top priority.
Agwan Gwuragwu in Karomajiji is a secluded community for people living with disabilities. The community is located along the airport road by the National Military Cemetry which is after the national stadium in Abuja. One of the major challenges for the inhabitants of Agwan Gwuragu is the absence of a health centre.
Women and children in rural areas are not the only ones disproportionately affected by poor quality of maternal and child health care delivery. Those in communities few kilometers away from the city are faced with health threats also due to the absence of health facilities.
When NOTAGAIN Campaign Media team visited Igbologun, an island community in Amuwo Odofin Local Governmenr Area of Lagos State, we witnessed the helpless situation experienced by pregnant women and children in the community with respect to health care. Located close to the traditional ruler’s quarters is a Maternity Centre which appeared to be deserted as there were no patients in the facility at the time of visit.
In recognition of the power of the media to project issues in ways that stimulate public discourse and draw the attention of policy and decision makers to issues of importance, Development Communications (DevComs) Network paid visits to Lagos State based media houses to solicit support for increased projection of Reproductive, Maternal Newborn and Child Health (RMNCH) issues on their platforms.
Access to and utilization of healthcare services is related to the availability of the right type of care for those in need, financial accessibility, quality of care, geographical accessibility, and acceptability of service provided. In developing countries like Nigeria, access to quality health services in the public sector has been a universal challenge owing to the aforementioned factors. The state of the Nigerian public health system is largely dysfunctional and grossly under-funded.
Unguwan Maikanti is a rural community in Kaduna State facing maternal and child health challenges due to absence of basic health facilities and primary health centre. When NOTAGAIIN Campaign media team visited the community, they found the following;
As part of our NOTAGAIN Campaign project aimed at ending maternal deaths in Nigeria, we embarked on field visit with journalists from Print, Radio and Television to enable them have hands-on information on the experiences of women and children at the grassroots.
To improve accuracy and facilitate effective reportage of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (RMNCAH) issues in the media space, DevComs organized a training on RMNCH Advocacy for media professionals in Lagos.
The participants made up of core group of news reporters, producer, editor from print, radio and television were taken through basic terminologies in RMNCH, religious and traditional factors related to RMNCH in Nigeria, Sustainable Development Goals, and a number of policies and laws related with RMNCH in Nigeria.
