50 -
Vanguard, TUESDAY. APRIL 10, 2012
~ Hea Ith WEEKLY GOOD
World parliaments prioritise action on maternal, child health BY SOlA. OGUNDlPE T)R.lORIT15AJlONof C ac:bpn and resources lor unprovmg the health 01. women and chlldren 15 now II. majOr responsibihty of every go'o'ernmeot all over the world as leaders of 119 nebonal parliaments have resolved
to pnonUse action and resowcesfcrun~tbe
health 01 women and children so as to adueve 1MgeU0I Millenruum De-
veIopmenlGoal> (MDGs) 4 and 5 by 2015, Rising from a three-day debate which took place in Kampala, Uganda.
featunng . mtervenbons from more than 50 member-delegations. assooate members and observers, including NigeriA, Blazil. the Uruted Kingdom. Sweden Ilnd JndOne5Ja,. the parha.meolariaos who were del· egates of the 126th InterP&rtiampntary UDOl (IPU)
AssembJ), passed the .....-
Achieving MDG 5 also
Jution.
held
It is the first time improvement of maternal and child health wiD be a porliameolmy mandate, m view of the unacceptably Jugh maoemaJ and chiJd mortabty rates lD Afnca, where many countnes are not on lntck to acb.ieve M [)('js .( and S. The IPU Assembly was a foI1ow up to the Afnca Reglonal Consultation on
orgarused by the Partners in Population and Development Africa Regional Office, In
in
Kampala,
mIlatxnbon with W:Jmen
Del"... M:JXi .. auns to reduce
child deaths around the world by two thuds by 2015, while MOe 5 &l1llS to reduce the maternal mortality moo by three-
quarte<Sbythe same yeo<
Delegates
at
the
Kampala meeting called upon parllamentarians to scrutInize all
government
health mterventions to ensure they are eYldencebased, confonn to mtematxnal human nghts standards. and are respollSNe to regular and transparent performance rev>eWS.
A key observation at the Assembly was that parliamentanans playa
cnbcal ~ in a.1locabng resources, enactmg Ia\\--s. 0YeI5eelll9' tmplementa· bon. and reOectmg the VIeY>'S ol dtJ.zmsabout the!t access to bea.Itb semces, Many pregnant \\-'Omen are not being attended to by skilled health
profeSSionals dunng labour and delIvery, a lIIIIjOrcootributmg factc.rto maternal and newborn deaths,
Oxfam warns of imminent food crisis in Nigeria BY CHJOMA OBlNNA 'TUWARDS~
.lie natxm's food secu· nty system and prevent tmml.nent food COStS, Oxfmn lntemabonal, a evil society group involved in the fight ag.unst global poveny and hunger. bas called on Fe::lera1 govern. ment to lDVest more lD small scale fanmng m NI-
geria, In a chat. the Country
Director, Mr Tunde O}el.noted the need to map out plans to prevent an unmment food ClS1S 10 NigeDa as nelQhbounng countnes such as Nigel; 'R:had and Mall ~ already Jul by shortage of
"""
He S8ld the unplJc:anon of lblS was that there would be pressure on the N agedan agncultunlI sector as food demand from' those countnes would be tngh. a srtuation N.gena was not m any way pH!'pared for: "NigeoacunentlyissurroundedbycountrieSthal are oJreody lui by the food oms and III those pJaces. the food msis has more than doubled. These oountnesaJsomep'llllwilla~
proach N»geria to the buy food and then there will be
presr;ure on the food
¥lie ~asacounttyare
, depending
on, Therefore
~as~ualsUlust~
ate awareness for th1s unnunent CDSlS whx::b woukI prompt acbons toV.'&Jds ensunng thai \Ole have a funcbooal b:xi secuntysystemmtbecountry,''besad. Ojea saxl that a lot bad to be done to boost small
scale fa.rmmg 10 the country as smaIl scale larmers
produced 80 percent of food consumed bylbe Nigerian popWabOll. He called on government to make smaIl scale fanrung more attracbve and profita1:Me in order to get more people to gomto 11 so that more food woukI
be produced Ul Nogena. The CampalgtlS Manage< 0xIam, Ms, JamiJJab Mwanpsi. whodecned the
NLC seeks Canadian support against HIV & AIDS BY Vlcroa AHlUPotA_ _---' y-"O"'UN ""'G'---__ TN bneWltb the resolve
.II the International
'llade Union Confedera· tion (ITUC-Afnca), the Canadian labour Congress (CLC) and the NLC G8 campaign acbVlbes to sobct support for unplementatJoo oI.lbe rw Rec0mmendati00200onHNI AIDS III the wodd of work.
the NiQena Lili:lur Coogress. Nl.C, last week met w;u, the Canadian H>gb ColllIlllSSlODer m Abu)Cl. MrOmsCoola In a s&a1emen1. Secretary, NLC HIV/AIDSCommlttee, Comrade Maureen Ony>a. who led the delegation, saKi theirdemands is for the UlXOmtng G8 SwrurutlD Ouc.zlgo, USA tob:usmj~t€m
olUNdedarabmonHIVI AIDS; rommit resowt:eS to repIerush the GJobaJ Fund tofighlAIDS, Tuberc:uJosas and Malaria and to include thepobllcaldEdanobonand GIdlaIFundmmmitments
Slepben H"'J>"'Wbile the NLChMabowged .....dent GoodluckJooathan to inVlle PTesKlent Barrack Obamaasbostolthe Sum· nrit
present the demands and
"Smce the begmning 01 theAIDS response. umoos have argued that work place should be an HIV discnnunation·bee zone.
togamersupportof Canadian Pnme Minister,
Unfo}tunately, employment rem8ms one of the
of G8 oountnes wxJer tts
~She saKI the VlSit was to
Channel fuel subsidy savings to healthcare,-FG urged • BYClllOMAOBrNNA _,rulmdydN>geJ that.. "7Operce:nlolpnva1e \\-inch ....-as set up to ad', , nans must SUJ'Vlve "\he bnspiaIsarelarbelowstan- • dress theJSSUe of access to A. 5 the debate on
~'<l1 of fuel sub-
sidy rages, the Federal government has been wged to cbanneI fuel subSldy SlIVlD9s to heahhcare WIth it ~. to inaeastng access by Nigerians to media>I......,..,
Olamnan of the Lagos Stale Med!ca1 GuIld, Dr. Olum~'8 Odusote,
told
Good Health \'IteI;/y, man • Dr. Odusote.
~H'bO~C;;;;l~r. Women DeJJver.
Contiaues on Page 52
IntervJewthat there is need for government to look at
haW> envuoomenL
HlSwords""The nabQn's bealthcare staus can only be compared to that of S0malia... U you start counting the 'WOJSt health care-sys-, tem In the wodd, you will ootcount up to fivebeJore you get to Nigena." Advocabng that the subsldyshoukl be used to un· prove access 10 heaJthcare as ....'ell as iocrease number of hospital faci.hbes Ul the country. be lamented
dank:' Odusote noted that access to beahh care dehveryv,ras the most unportant yardstick.. to meawre a functional health care sys"'"' "unblunate!y, 70pe,-ernt of hea1th seMCeS III the country IS CI.IlreD1f)' bemg pl'"Olllded by the pnvate health sector" as public hospatals ate understaffed and
maJOr setbngS for HIV related d.iscnmmabon and work place mvm prevenbOn
programmes are
underutilised elements III
global AIDS ....,.,."., ThJde uruons have long acMx:'ated an eIpiUlSIOIl 01. work place prevenbon progmmmes. es:peo.a.Ily DOW" smce the workplace will be a key venue for unpIemeolIoga _
as preventaon" strategy. "The Nigena Labour Googress had bwtful d15CUSSlon at the CanadJ.a.n Con tiBue$on Page 52
hea1thcare has not been able to dO" that as It benefits only a small propor-
bonoflhepopulabon.1be scheme sbou1d operate III
such a waytbaleYel}'cbzenofthe !pJIllIycan benefit and be poYIded 'With affordable heaJ.th care ser"",,"
He Silld in most public
illeqwppect" 11le Nabonal HeaJth
hospitals there "Were only three 10 burdoctnrs attendmg to between 200 and 300
1nsurulceScbeme. NHlS,
Continues on Page 52
• AlrChm Cooter.