By Destiny Obinna
First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, yesterday flagged off the distribution of incentives to pregnant women, particularly those in vulnerable and underserved communities, as part of efforts to increase the uptake of antenatal care and other essential maternal and newborn health services.
The intervention, under the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Initiative, MAMII, is designed to address social, economic, cultural and logistical barriers limiting access to healthcare during pregnancy and childbirth.
Speaking at the national flag-off ceremony held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the First Lady said the initiative was aimed at ensuring that Nigerian women received quality care throughout pregnancy and childbirth while giving newborns a healthy start to life.
The incentives include 215,000 mama kits and bags, 40,000 maternal food support packs and 40,000 sets of essential newborn clothing.
Tinubu said the latest distribution of mama kits followed an earlier distribution of 110,000 kits.
According to her, “MAMII is a bold national intervention that unites key stakeholders to reduce the burden of maternal and newborn deaths by strengthening awareness, emergency care and referral systems, making safe childbirth and newborn survival the standard for every Nigerian family.”
“As a mother, I believe pregnancy and childbirth should be moments of hope and joy, with every woman having access to quality care. However, social, economic, cultural, and logistical barriers still exist. This is what makes this intervention of particular significance,” she added.
The First Lady said the incentives were intended to encourage women, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to attend antenatal clinics, prepare adequately for childbirth and continue accessing essential care after delivery.
She explained that the provision of newborn clothing reflected the administration’s commitment to ensuring that every Nigerian child was welcomed with dignity, warmth and care, while the maternal food support recognised the importance of adequate nutrition for mothers, successful pregnancies, safe deliveries and healthy newborns.
Tinubu commended the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, saying the ministry would extend distribution of the food support packs and newborn clothing to additional locations identified as having low utilisation of maternal health services.
She also called on state and local governments, traditional and religious leaders, development partners, philanthropists and other stakeholders to support the initiative and ensure that the incentives reached women in vulnerable and underserved communities.
“I encourage state and local governments, traditional and religious leaders, development partners, philanthropists, and other stakeholders to support this effort by ensuring incentives reach women in vulnerable and underserved communities and by increasing utilisation of maternal and newborn health services,” she said.
Speaking on the intervention, Pate said maternal mortality remained a major public health challenge in Nigeria and required coordinated action across the health system.
“Pregnancy is not a disease, yet many mothers lose their lives. So addressing it through a concerted effort gave birth to MAMII, which is trying to connect the dots on the supply side, on the primary healthcare system, the supply of human resources, commodities, procedures, all of the supply-side efforts, as well as the demand side in terms of the affordability of those services,” he said.
Pate said the initiative demonstrated the Federal Government’s commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of women and children, adding that the next phase would focus on intensifying and accelerating interventions while communicating the results achieved.
According to him, the incentives were designed to encourage women to participate actively in antenatal care and opt for skilled birth attendance as part of efforts to reduce maternal deaths.
He said Nigeria was making progress in maternal and newborn health but warned that the gains must be sustained.
Pate urged state governments and commissioners of health to complement Federal Government interventions by expanding efforts to address challenges affecting women and children at the grassroots.
“States need to expand on these efforts. They are closer to the realities, and there are resources from the proceeds of the agro-fiscal reforms of the President that can be channeled towards the issues that affect our people greatly,” he said.
Also speaking, Minister of State for Health, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, said the 2023–2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, NDHS, showed that about one in 19 women in Nigeria faced the risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes.
He described the figure as a stark indication of the need for sustained interventions to reduce maternal and newborn deaths and ensure timely access to essential healthcare services, particularly for women in vulnerable communities.
Salako stressed the importance of early antenatal care and called for concerted efforts to address social and economic barriers that prevent women from accessing healthcare.
He urged families, communities and other stakeholders to support pregnant women throughout pregnancy and childbirth, saying collective action remained critical to improving maternal and newborn health outcomes.
