The Osun State Government has won a $20m grant from the Federal Government for improving in the key areas relating to maternal and child health care.
The Federal Ministry of Health awarded the state the grant for coming second nationwide in a programme tagged Save One Million Lives, which is also an initiative designed to encourage states across the country to pay attention to issues relating to maternal and child health care.
The Senior Technical Assistant to the Governor and Head, Programme Delivery Unit, Dr. Michael Olugbile, said that Osun had made significant improvement in the number of children that were immunised in the state and those sleeping under treated nets.
Olugbile, who is a Harvard-trained medical doctor and whose office coordinates the relationship between the state government and donor agencies, noted that the state had enjoyed a harmonious working relationship with donor agencies, hence the successful implementation of many interventions funded by the donors in the state.
He said: “Osun State has enjoyed a good working relationship with the donor agencies and that has helped it to deliver timely services to its people through many programmes that these donors are assisting us to fund.
“For instance, on Monday, November 19, Osun was given the sum of $20m for improving on key areas that affect maternal and child health care.
“A survey was done a long time ago to see if we had improved on the six key indicators that the Federal Ministry of Health had set to measure how well the states were handling issues relating to maternal and child health care.
“Some of the indicators include the number of children sleeping under insecticide treated nets, the number of children immunised, the number of children that received Vitamin A immunisation, the number of women that were delivered of new born babies in government-owned health facilities and the number of married women on family planning. The survey covers one year.
“In the last survey done, Osun State was rated second in the country after making significant improvement from its previous position in all the key indicators listed.
“The programme belongs to the Federal Government, but the money will not be given to a state until a survey shows the state has recorded improvement in maternal and child healthcare.”
