2,000 Children die daily of preventable diseases – DevCom

No fewer than 2,000 children under five years of age die daily from preventable diseases in Nigeria, a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO); Development Communications (DevCom) Network, has said.

This observation is contained in a press release signed by Mr Abiodun Owo, the NGO’s Training, Research and Communications Officer and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Zaria, Kaduna State, on Tuesday.
It said the deaths were due to a declining quality of health care services rendered to communities, especially the hard-to-reach communities, that were already disadvantaged with respect to public services.
“The National Demographic and Health Survey of 2013, reveals that coverage and quality of health care services in Nigeria is poor.
“Less than 20 per cent of health facilities offer emergency obstetric care and only 35 per cent of deliveries are attended to by skilled attendants,” it stated.
The release, however, said that many of the deaths were preventable, adding that the quality of health care services continued to fall short of standard.
According to it, the Nigerian government has made political commitments and pronouncements towards the achievement of universal health coverage and access to reproductive health care.
It recalled some of the pronouncements as; “the Abuja declaration of 2001 of allocating at least 15% of national budget to health, Maputo Plan of Action (2006) to promote reproductive health services including family planning.
“Others are Every Woman, Every Child (EWEC) promise of 2010 to strengthen the health system and the July 2012 commitment of US$45.4 million to provide reproductive health facilities,” added the release.