The Anambra State Government on Tuesday said that over 100 babies were delivered in the state’s Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in the 2022 flood disaster.
Dr Afam Obidike, the state’s Commissioner for Health, disclosed while taking delivery of 1,212 Mama Kits donated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), on Tuesday in Awka.
Obidike said that during the flooding, many pregnant women ran to the IDPs for safety without their delivery kits.
“During the 2022 flood disaster, we had over 100 deliveries at the IDP camps.
“This prompted the Wife of the Governor, Dr. Nonye Soludo, to donate mama kits to expectant mothers and sponsored antenatal care at the camps,” she said.
She then urged the state’s partners and well-meaning individuals to donate mama kits to save and encourage expectant mothers to go for antenatal.
“This is why UNICEF is donating these delivery kits to the state.
“We will distribute it in flood-prone and hard-to-reach areas as incentives to encourage pregnant women to register and go for antenatal.
“This will also prevent and reduce maternal deaths in the state,” he said.
The commissioner described Mama’s kit as an all-in-one kit that provided prospective mothers with everything they needed to have a sanitary and safe delivery.
He identified Mackintosh, olive oil, umbilical cord ligature, surgical knife, baby wrapper, laundry soap, gloves, cotton wool, and small gauze as some of the items in the kit.
Obidike said that the state government was intensifying efforts to improve maternal health and encouraging pregnant women to deliver at a health facility.
Dr. Obianuju Okoye, the State Reproductive Health Coordinator, said that the kits would help relieve the state emergency flood response as well as reduce the burden and cost of delivery.
“From our data, there was a slight increase in maternal deaths due to the 2022 flood disaster and this is one of the interventions to reduce such deaths, ” Okoye said.
