The Nigerian government and the media have promised to promote the well-being of women, children, adolescent and elderly persons in the country.
This is was disclosed at a media committee with the Federal Ministry of Health on the launch of the 2021 operational plan, and an overview of the activities of the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Adolescent, Elderly health plus Nutrition (RMNCAEH) multi-stakeholder partnership in Abuja, Nigeria.
Dr Osagie Ohanire, the Minister of Health stated that the purpose of this commitment is to establish an effective media in harnessing relative issues and promoting universal access to sexual and reproductive health services.
“The health policy identifies Reproductive, Newborn, Child, Adolescent and Elderly Health plus Nutrition, as one of its priorities, with the goal of reducing maternal, neonatal, child, adolescent and elderly morbidity and mortality in Nigeria, and promoting universal access to sexual and reproductive health services for adolescent and adults throughout their life cycle,” the Minister said.
He also stated that the health care system for women, the elderly and children are too poor, and needs to be treated, hence the partnership with the media, engaging them every two weeks.
“The deleterious practices inevitably increase susceptibility to infections, slow down recovery from illness and contributes to preventable morbidity and mortality rates especially among women and elderly.
“There is, therefore, the need to strengthen engagement with the media institutions and improve strategic communication tools, working with various media platforms to drive social and behaviour change and influence attitudes towards Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Adolescent and Elderly plus Nutrition (RMNCAEH),” he said.
Dr Adeleke Mamora, the State Minister of Health, stated that the Media has a critical role in creating awareness to the public, and so data and information should be passed to them frequently in educating the public towards health promotion.
The Dean of the press, Mr Yusuf Ali, pledging his support said, “let us continue to dialogue, let us continue to communicate, so from time to time we compare notes. This country belongs to all of us, we have no other country, we are also stakeholders, we want to help you to succeed.
“We want a situation whereby, before you leave office, at the press of a button if we need information from the Ministry of Health let us have that. If you are going on tour, we have health reporters, let them follow you, let them see something, say something and write something”. Yusuf said.
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