By CrossRiverWatch Admin
The federal Government Thursday in Abuja, awarded the wife of Cross River Governor, Linda Ayade as “Champion for Women and Children’s Health” in recognition for her role as an influential personality that advocates for Family Planning (FP).
Ayade, was honored among several other prominent personalities across the country at the end of a 2 day National Family Planning Consultative Meeting convened by the Federal Ministry of Health where the communique with the issues identified in the 2015 FP consultative meeting was reviewed, progress report on the National FP program disseminated and an action plan developed for 2017 to implement evidence based interventions.
The event which held at the Transcorp Hilton hotel on its first day and the State House banquet hall on the second day saw the likes of the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, the deputy governor of Rivers state, Ipalibo Banigo, several other wives of governors, as well as religious and traditional rulers.
Also, the meeting which featured technical sessions and presentations by various developing partners is expected to inspire the renewal of commitment from Nigeria to reducing maternal mortality especially as the country aims to achieve 38 percent contraceptive prevalence rate by 2018 as based in the National Health Strategic Development Plan (2009 – 2015).
It will be recalled that at the end of the Millennium Development Goals, Nigeria did not record a reduction in maternal death but an increase as the maternal mortality rate jumped from 545 deaths per 100,000 life births to 576 deaths per 100,000 live births.
The country according to a report by UNICEF is reputed to be the second largest contributor to the under-five and maternal mortality rates in the world with an estimated 2,300 under 5 deaths and 145 women of childbearing age dying every single day.