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MATERNAL AND CHILD SURVIVAL: TOYIN SARAKI WRITES SARAH BROWN

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The National Champion for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health for the White Ribbon Alliance For Safe Motherhood(WRA) Her Excellency, Mrs Toyin Saraki of Kwara State has vowed that the One Voice Campaign, a coalition of stakeholders dedicated to the fight against maternal, newborn and child mortality will work with Sarah Brown, the wife of former British Prime Minister to achieve the  Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5.

In a recent letter to Mrs  Brown, who is Global Patron for WRA, Mrs Saraki noted that the battle against the scourge of maternal and child mortality in Nigeria has made tremendous progress since she initiated and led an advocacy visit to the Federal Ministry of Health in 2005. She explained that at that meeting, she stressed that the issue of Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health should be at the forefront of Nigeria’s home affairs.  She noted  that the fact that  Nigeria is making progressive steps towards tackling maternal, newborn and child mortality can also be said to account for the recent appointment of  the immediate-past Health Minister, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin as Spokesman for Maternal Health in Africa by the Partnership for Maternal Newborn and Child Health(PMNCH).

Mrs Saraki,  pointed out that her conviction for  the need for broader participation in the  battle against maternal, newborn and child mortality encouraged  her to  facilitate the recent meeting between the Nigerian First Lady, Her Excellency Dame Patience Jonathan and the White Ribbon Alliance with the hope that the meeting and the expected investiture of the First Lady as National Matron of the White Ribbon Alliance will provide a timely fillip to the continuum of the goals defined at the 2009 High Level Maternal Health Task Force meeting at 10 Downing Street hosted  in 2009

She said that as part of the steps tackle the scourge, the One Voice Nigeria Health Campaign was inaugurated on May 18th 2010 as a cross sectoral campaign unifying all stakeholders under one umbrella as a national task force, culminating in the formulation and delivery of the Abuja Declaration on MNCH to the leaders of the African Union and subsequently, the Heads of Government of the G8 Nations on Nigeria's behalf.

 The National Championed explained that the One Voice Campaign is tasked with   consolidating the national advocacy effort following the solicitation of personal support of the First Lady by replicating this advocacy programme with the wives of the 36 State Governors through encouraging the establishment of WRAN State Chapters. 

In a personal letter to Mrs Saraki recently, Mrs Brown noted that: “Her Excellency Mrs Saraki has shown true commitment towards Nigeria’s fight against maternal, newborn and child mortality. These issues must be put at the forefront of each country’s national agenda”.