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The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) reported that Ogun State has the highest infant mortality rate in the southwest of Nigeria. The Ogun State Government has taken note of this report’s publication.
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The Bureau of Statistics, with assistance from partners, conducts the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) every two years to close the data gap for tracking the state of mothers’ and children’s health.
According to recent numbers from the study, Ogun State in the southwest of the country has the highest rate of fatalities among children between the ages of 0 and 5 years and postnatal care for infants
But the state government clarified the latest results from the most recent MICS in Ibadan, Oyo State, in a statement made by the commissioner for health, Dr. Olutomi Coker, on Saturday in Abeokuta.
Coker asserted that despite what the media has reported, the state administration is aware of the health status of women and children in the state. She claimed that the study made it abundantly evident that the sample size was insufficient for the majority of state indicators, rendering the report a poor reflection of the state’s actual newborn health situation.
A publication identifying three southwest states as having high infant mortality rates, according to the most recent MICS data distributed recently in Ibadan, has caught our notice. While the Ogun State Health Ministry acknowledges the survey’s findings, we would want to stress that we are keeping an eye on the state’s women’s and children’s health. To keep Ogun State’s newborn mortality rate among the lowest in the southwest, all possible measures are being taken.
According to the statement, “The survey is carried out every two years and MICS 5 results for Ogun State were considerably low compared to the recent results which came as a surprise given the various interventions we have put in place as an administration to improve the health outcomes for our mothers and children.”
The COVID-19 pandemic, which occurred during the survey’s reporting period, was a significant change in the health system, according to the Health Commissioner. which severely hampered the nation’s healthcare system,
Dr. Coker continued by saying that a recent analysis of our data indicates that 40% of pregnant women in Ogun State chose to give birth in a traditional setting, which could have an effect on the result for both mother and child.
She said that the administration isn’t just sitting on its hands when it comes to the aforementioned issue and revealed that new mechanisms and technologies have been put in place to confront this unfavorable tendency.
According to her, some of the innovations include training health professionals, such as doctors, midwives, and CHEWs, on helping babies breathe; educating TBAs on identifying danger signs in pregnancy; and systematic reorientation of pregnant women to embrace delivery at government health facilities through enrollment of over 50,000 pregnant women and children under the age of five into the Basic Health Care Provision Scheme across the 20 Local Government Areas.
She continued by saying that the state government is also facilitating the start of the Hub and Spoke project to encourage early referrals from our TBAs to secondary and tertiary health facilities, as well as the renovation and equipping of primary health care centers across the 20 LGAs to create a conducive environment and deliver high-quality health services at the grassroots level.
The Ogun State Primary Healthcare Board recently hired 55 midwives and 48 medical officers to supplement the existing workforce at the primary health care level, according to Coker. Plans are also well underway for the construction of a mother and child unit with a dedicated fetal medicine center at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu.
The Commissioner acknowledged the concerns of the state’s citizens on the report, particularly those of mothers and caregivers, but added, “We believe that with the above innovations and initiatives, the infant mortality would be expected to be on a lower trajectory.”
Coker stated, “Adequate response will continue to be delivered in a timely manner and the District Health Information System (the national health information database) will be regularly queried to monitor the State infant mortality trends.
