Mrs Abimbola Fashola, the wife of Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, on Thursday urged nursing mothers to embrace personal hygiene for the well-being of their babies.
Fashola gave the advice during the Lagos West Senatorial District Town Hall meeting on Maternal and Child Mortality Reduction, held at Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Secretariat, Festac Town, Lagos.
She said that babies could contract infections from mothers who fail to maintain good personal hygiene.
“I will like to advise our nursing mothers to always maintain good personal hygiene to safeguard their health and that of their babies.
“Babies are very close to their mothers; they suckle from them and are always around them.
“So, it is important that they keep themselves clean to keep their babies healthy.
“The mothers should wash their hands and clean their nipples before breast feeding and ensure everything about them and the babies are kept clean,’’ she said.
Fashola said that babies often contracted diseases like diarrhoea, cholera and others from mothers with poor personal hygiene, adding that the situation had worsened the problem of neo-natal mortality.
The governor’s wife also appealed to women to always make use of the Primary Healthcare facilities around them during pregnancy.
She said this would not only ensure that pregnant women have easy access to care, but would also help to prevent maternal and child deaths.
Fashola described the rate of maternal and infant mortality in the country as “unacceptable”.
“A lot needs to be done by stakeholders, especially women, to eradicate it.
“We are told that no fewer than 11,500 women have lost their lives either during pregnancy or at child birth and we are saying this is not acceptable.
“We need to take urgent steps, not just to reduce this, but to eradicate it. And our women, especially the pregnant ones have a big role to play in putting an end to it.
“Of course, the Primary Health Centres are in every community to provide maternal and child care services.
“But, these centres are not well patronised as people still prefer general hospitals and tertiary facilities.
“The fact remains that the centres are actually more positioned to attend to their needs and prevent needless mother and child deaths.
“I urged our women, especially the pregnant ones, to always patronise these centres. It is a sure step to controlling maternal and child mortality,” she said.
Fashola said that the centres had been equipped to offer free quality services to care seekers, and implored men to encourage their pregnant wives to use the centres.
Also, Dr Jide Idris, the Commissioner for Health, said the meeting was organised to sensitise women to the need to always access healthcare during pregnancies.
“We will hold more of these programmes in other senatorial districts.
“The essence is to create awareness about the threats of maternal and child mortality and make advocacy for patronage of health facilities,” he said.
Mrs Sarah Sosan, the former deputy governor of the state, also urged parents to embrace family planning to reduce the risk of maternal mortality.
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