Delta State Governor Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has called on stakeholders in the health sector to rise and check the alarming rate of infant mortality and neonatal deaths in the country.

Dr. Uduaghan, who was speaking at the 3rd Annual General Meeting of Nigerian Society of Neonatal Medicine at Mosogar in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State, said the rate of infant mortality was alarming and now poses a big challenge.

He urged health officials not to allow the ugly trend to continue especially as neonatal and mortality deaths of infants were preventable, explaining that it does not require sophisticated equipment or costly materials to check infant mortality.

The Governor said the time has come for the country to see the daily infant mortality rate as a big threat to the nation. His words “the deaths are preventable as it does not require the use of very costly equipments and materials. It is a big challenge and we should not allow it to continue.”

Dr Uduaghan said the State Government has already taken up the challenge and has started implementing a health care scheme that would take care of the pre and post natal health of women from the day of conception to the day of delivery.

He explained that the health programme of the State Government was central to the human capital development agenda of his administration just as he said that it was only when people were healthy that they could go to school and do other things.

Emphasizing that the State was running a free health care scheme for children between ages of one to five years, the Governor said “free maternal health care ensures that women do not pay any fee for drugs and even caesarian operation. Besides we give hundred percent attention to health programmes in the State.”

Dr Uduaghan called for reliable statistical data on health sector, as such data would help Government to plan and cope with health problems in the country. He assured the Nigerian Society of Neonatal Medicine of his administration’s commitment towards the reduction of infant mortality.

The Governor also promised to adequately support the association to achieve its set objectives. The President of Nigerian Society of Neonatal Medicine Prof. Rapheal Oruaonabor announced that his association was waging war on infant mortality and neonatal deaths in the country.

Prof. Oruaneabor disclosed that his association would lay emphasis on the training of community health workers to enable them contribute effectively to the neonatal programme. He attributed the major cause of infant mortality to include ignorance, poverty, lack of infrastructure as well as lack of adequate attention to health issues by various tiers of government in the country.

The President, Pediatrics Association of Nigeria, Dr Dorothy Esangbado regretted that sixty percent of infant mortality in the country takes place in the rural communities. Dr Esangbado therefore called on all stakeholders in the health sector to dwell more on preventive medicine in the rural communities to reduce infant mortality and neonatal deaths.

She said her association was concerned about the embarrassing infant mortality rate, adding that unless extra effort were made to meet millennium development goals before the next five years the country could find itself loosing out in the battle against neonatal deaths. The State Commissioner for Health Dr. Joseph Otumara in his speech said the State Government has put a lot of programme in place to alleviate the suffering of the masses.

Dr. Otumara also said the State Government would key into the Neonatal Community Health Programme so that all health workers in the state would participate and benefit from the programme.