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| Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko (2nd left), with other leaders at a debate on Maternal Mortality and the MDGs at the SABC's 'the Great Debate' studios at the Dags Hammerksjold Library inside the UN Headquarters in New York, USA |
Ondo state governor Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, has said Strong political will and readiness to commit resources are two key ingredients to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.
Dr. Mimiko who was speaking at the Nigerian side event of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on the 'Abiye' Safe Motherhood success story, said African leaders must be ready to commit needed resources to combat maternal and infant mortality as these are primary sources of dysfunctions in family and economic development.
The Ondo State Governor said committing resources however entails the possession of the political will and disposition to effect change. "We cannot continue to give the absence of resources as excuse for the
worrisome state of infant and maternal mortality in Africa.
All we need to do is to accept the fact that tackling the set of scourge is as important as, if not more important than, the most prioritised engagement of government," Mimiko said. Speaking on the specifics of his now globally-acknowledged 'Abiye' initiative, Mimiko said his government had to embark on a
government-financed health care initiative when faced with mind-boggling figures of mortality in the State.
He said: "We vowed that pregnancy will no longer be a death sentence in our State and we embarked on a comprehensive process of intervention that has yielded noticeable results in a short period of time. From a novel process of tracking pregnant women through ICT tools, to providing care and access at all stages of pregnancy to delivery and five weeks after, we have provided care at no cost to the woman or her family at the point of care. Several lives have been saved in the process."
On the strategies employed by his government, Mimiko said the whole Abiye success story is hinged on three basic principles, which are: "tracking of the pregnant women fem conception to delivery; opening
the health care sector for universal and free access; and allocation of resources in the most efficient and equitable manner." He added that the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Death, an initiative to track death of pregnant women, has provided a verifiable proof that maternal mortality figures are falling in the State.
Several leaders from across Africa spoke of the need to share ideas and strategies so as to maximize the time left before the 2015 target date of the MDGs. President Goodluck Jonathan, Johnson Sirleaf Johnson
of Liberia, John Dramani Mahama of Ghana and several other african leaders were at hand at the event to compare notes and share best practices experience as the world prepares to round off the MDGs and
look towards post 2015 developments and goals.
