The Federal Government on Thursday inaugurated the Yellow Heart Initiative to prevent the prevailing death of mothers and their children in the country.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, who inaugurated
the initiative, commended the MTN Foundation, the brain behind the initiative.
Adewole, who was represented by Mr. Osarenona Uwaifo, the
Permanent Secretary in the ministry, called on other organisations to emulate
the foundation in rendering humanitarian service to the populace.
He said that this would help the indigent class, especially
those who could not access primary health facilities the opportunities to save
their lives.
Ms Nonny Ugboma, the Executive Secretary, MTN foundation at
the unveiling of the initiative in Abuja said the foundation was deeply
concerned about the death of women and child, which resulted in the initiative.
“MTN believes strongly in health. I don’t know if you know
we have three key areas – health, education and economic empowerment but over
the years we have drawn that initiative to touch the lives of mothers and
children.
“We are also deeply concerned with the indices relating to
maternal and infant mortality.
“So, we thought that we should join hands with the Federal
Ministry to Health and let’s use this platform to bring other agencies and
other organisations to see how we can collaborate to truly extend and implement
projects that will take care of maternal health and infant health.
“It is important to mention that the yellow heart for us is
a symbol of love because if you are talking about nation building, you have to
take care of the fundamentals which are our mothers and our children,’’ she
said.
She said that the initiative would be extended to six
states, adding that Thursday’s inauguration was the first phase.
Ugboma said that the foundation was collaborating with other
stakeholders and agencies with strong partnership with the federal ministry of
health.
The Chairman, MTN Foundation, Mr Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi
painted a sad picture of the prevailing situation of child and mother mortality
in the country.
He urged Nigerians to stop complaining but rather take
action that would reduce the menace.
“As a people, we must know that this cannot continue. We ask
you to join the yellow heart campaign to improve the health and wellbeing of
our mothers and our children.
“The yellow heart campaign is an urgent call to purposeful
action. It is working collaboratively with public, private and nonprofit
parties that can improve the health and survival rate of women and children in
our country,” Adelusi-Adeluyi.
The initiative which started from Oct. 26, will run through the end of March 2018 in
Ogun, Oyo, Abia, Cross River, Niger and Kaduna state.
The initiative is a multi-stakeholders approach supported by
the ministry of health to deliver a sustainable intervention to reduce the prevalence of death by providing
access to quality healthcare for indigent Nigerians. (NAN)
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