ESSENTIAL FAMILY HEALTH PRACTICES: UNICEF/NOA SENSITISE COMMUNITY WOMEN IN IMO

Reporter  : CHINAZO ILECHUKWU

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the National Orientation Agency (NOA) has commenced sensitization of over five hundred communities in Imo state to essential family health practices.

This is to reduce maternal morbidity and infant mortality.

Addressing women at Okwunaezeigwe in Obowo Local Government Area of the state, UNICEF Facilitator, Mr. Vitus Ekeocha, urged pregnant women to seek early antenatal care and ensure routine immunization of their babies to check vaccine-preventable childhood killer diseases.

Mr. Ekeocha, who stressed the need for strict compliance to COVID-19 prevention protocol explained that the COVID-19 vaccine was safe and urged the people to get vaccinated to help reduce the burden of the pandemic.

The State Director of the National Orientation Agency, Mrs.Ngozi Ekeoba, advised the women to maintain a clean environment and cultivate the habit of sleeping under insecticide treated nets always to fight malaria. She warned against any form of female genital mutilation, noting that anyone caught would face the wrath of the law.

The leader of the women, Mrs. Kate Adigo, expressed gratitude to UNICEF and NOA for the enlightenment and promised to convey the messages to those who were absent from the programme.