The Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria (MWAN), Lagos branch, says it is still committed to fostering health maintenance for Nigerians.
The association’s President, Dr Frances Ajose, said on Sunday in Lagos that the association would adopt new strategies toward health maintenance for resilience, noting that as usual, Medical Women were in the forefront.
She said the legacy and achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provided valuable lessons and experience that should enhance a more successful Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which replaced the MDGs in 2016.
The SDGs target everyone rich, medium and low income with all 17 SDGs interconnecting.
“This means success as one supports the success of the others.
“Health, for instance, impacts the success of the other 16 goals as better health will eradicate poverty, improve the economy, reduce inequalities, and foster peace, among other benefits.
“It stands to reason therefore, that promoting synergy of all sectors of the SDGs is a critical means of improving our health in the 21st century.
“This informed the choice of the theme of our biennial conference, `Inter-sectoral Synergy for Health’,’’ Ajose said in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
She said that Nigeria held the unenviable world record of the 2nd to the highest maternal mortality rate with equally abysmal infant mortality.
The association’s president said this maternal mortality was highest among first-time mothers and women with multiple pregnancies and that children of first-time mothers are also more vulnerable.
“So, where else to start the intervention but in the communities where we have the most congregation of potential first-time mothers and fathers, the schools, and the congregation of multiparous women, the markets,’’ she said.
Ajose said that consequently, during our two-year tenure, MWAN plans to equip five million adolescents in our schools with skills and tools to mitigate poor maternal and infant mortality.
“Equally depressing is the recent study that places Nigeria at the top of the Stroke prevalence scale.
“What is not being trumpeted, however, is that the wives of the Nigerian Stroke victims often die before their husbands.
“For this reason, we are targeting a million Lagos State market women for education not only on means to reduce Maternal and Infant Mortality, but also on Stroke prevention and management for their own and their husbands’ self-preservation,’’ she said.
Ajose said that the Lagos MWAN owns a property at Ebute Metta which was old and dilapidated and no longer sufficient for its activities in spite of the fact that its maintenance constantly consumes most of the association’s resources.
She said that the association was looking toward a replacement and had already secured an offer of free architectural services from one of the best architectural firms in Lagos.
She disclosed that MWAN was discussing with a giant construction company that promised it building materials and trusted their dear state Governor for allocation of the land to build a new edifice, The MWAN Lagos Well-Woman Centre.
The president said that the three major targets were concurrent with its existing mandate of control of preventing cancers in women and health promotion in children.
She therefore, appealed to all for personal reasons and for the sake of wife, sister, mother and daughter, father, husband, brother, son et al. to overstep the rhetoric and join MWAN in its pragmatic approach to remove Nigeria from the list of the world poorest health indices.
NAN reports that Ajose was recently inaugurated as MWAN president during its 21 biennial conference in Lagos for 2019 to 2021.
