The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, says Nigeria’s infant mortality rate has improved to 65 per 1,000 live births and maternal mortality at 224 deaths per 100,000 live births.
The Minister said this on Thursday in Abuja at the national dissemination workshop on the findings of the National HIV and AIDS and Reproductive Health Survey.
Chukwu was represented by at the event by the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Health, Sani Bala.
The UN World Population Prospects and the Institute for Health Metric Reports (2010) puts the country’s rate at 545 per 100,000 on maternal mortality.
The UN report also showed that in 2010, the figure stood at 75 deaths per 1,000 live births.
He said the NARHS plus survey was conducted in the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.
The minister said the survey was the fourth in the series as in because previous ones were conducted in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
He said: “The figures obtained from the population-based data in this survey reveal more accurate figures.
“The finding on infant and maternal mortality rates has indicated improvement over the previous indices for the country.
“It also showed that HIV prevalence among general population put at 3.6 per cent in 2007 has declined to 3.4 per cent in 2012.”
Chukwu said that quality data would adequately lead to formulation of informed policies and interventions
The Director, HIV and AIDS Control Programme, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Ade Bashorun, who represented the survey, said it was also meant to resuscitate and sustain behavioural communication change strategies.
Bashorun said that HIV programming should be intensified in rural area and among the widows, adding that it should also target older men that patronise younger girls involved in risky behaviours.
He said: “Despite reduction in national HIV prevalence by 0.2 per cent between 2007 and 2012, there is the need to intensify the use of appropriate, targeted, evidence-based and proven HIV prevention interventions.
“Stakeholders, including government at all levels, donors and implementing agencies should use the findings of this survey for evidence-based HIV programming.”
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