NURSING MOTHERS ADVISED TO TAKE CARE DURING NEONATAL CARE

The Chief Health Educator, Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja, Mrs Ezioma Madu has advised Nursing mothers to avoid the use of traditional medicines and other concoction during neonatal care.

Mrs Madu gave the advice in Umuahia, during a one-day advocacy programme organised by the ministry for health officers and stakeholders in Abia state.

According to Mrs Madu such traditional medicine and concoctions usually had harmful effects in the health of both the Nursing mothers and the new born. She listed some of the medically approved key neonatal health commodities to include antenatal corticosteroid to accelerate fetal lung maturity, injectable antibiotics for neonatal sepsis, neonatal resuscitation devices for birth asphyxia and four percent Chlorhexideine for umbilical cord.

Mrs Madu expressed concern that the country had not recorded significant progress in addressing the high rate of neonatal mortality and blamed the development on a number of factors, such as skills gap, poor referral, inadequate training, poor policy implementation and inadequate supply of the commodities.

She therefore called for concerted and accelerated efforts by all the stakeholders towards ensuring adequate funding and effective application of life-saving neonatal commodities for mothers and the
new born.

Some of the participants at the programme, in an interview described the training as very educating and rewarding and promised to put the knowledge they have acquired into effective use.

Correspondent Lawrence Nwokedi reports that the workshop had in attendance representatives of various health organizations as well as the media.