In its efforts to fight against child and maternal mortality, the Rotary Club of Lagos, Festac Metropolitan, has donated over 40 safe birth kits to pregnant mothers in Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of the state.
The donation was made at the Amuwo Odofin Primary Health Centre, Festac, on Monday, when members of the club visited the women, who attended the ante-natal care. Each kit contains sanitary pads, cut clamps, and every other material required for safe delivery.
Speaking at the event, the president of the club, Dr. Margaret Agada-Mba, noted that the gesture was the club’s contribution to the fight against child and maternal mortality, which has been on the increase.
She said: “We realise that the reason some women would want to give birth at home is because they cannot afford the items required to deliver in hospitals. And when they do that, most often, it is either the mother or the child dies, due to lack of appropriate care. So, we decided to reduce child and maternal mortality by investing in the materials that they need in the hospitals.
“So, every year, we donate safe birth kits that contain everything that they require to put to bed successfully to ensure that both mother and child are safe.
Receiving the donations, the Head Nurse at the health centre, Boika Queen, described the gesture as a welcomed development, stressing it would go a long way to assisting the women.
One of the beneficiaries, Mrs Tosin Eze, said she was excited to have got the kit from the club. “I am very grateful to them. I really appreciate them. I heard that they have been doing this for the past four years, but this is the first time I am benefiting from it,” she said.
Another beneficiary, Mrs Chinecherem Okonkwo, commended the Rotary for the donation, saying “It will help us a great deal, and I am very happy about this. God will bless and multiply them.”
In a related development, the club equally visited one of the junior girls’ secondary schools in Festac, where materials that would enhance their personal hygiene were equally donated to the girls.
Agada-Mba said the month of March in Rotary year was dedicated to water sanitation and hygiene and it was in fulfillment of that that the Club decided to visit the girls.
She lamented that people underestimate water sanitation and hygiene, and stressed that they are what the girls need to make life comfortable for them every day.
“We have chosen the girls in junior secondary schools because young girls growing into adulthood always have hygiene issues, especially when it comes to personal hygiene, like their menstrual cycles and all that.”
