…offers free health services
Rotary International has partnered with Gombe State to commence 2024 Maternal and Newborn Child Health Week with a joint community outreach offering free services in Health Education, Antenatal.
Others include care, hygiene, self care, laboratory investigations, family planning and adolescent services.
Speaking at the event, the Gombe State Rotary Representative, Rotarian Dantata Mohammed Ndus, highlighted Rotary’s contributions, including the provision of essential drugs to the State Nutrition Office, de-worming medications, B-complex vitamins, mosquito nets, and free testing for sugar levels, blood pressure, and weight, saying the services are available to all participants at no cost.
Ndus, who also serves as the Permanent Secretary of the Gombe State Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, emphasised that these services would encourage individuals who typically avoid hospitals to seek necessary medical attention.
He noted that Rotary’s on-site health services would refer patients with more serious conditions to appropriate healthcare facilities.
He added that the Country Director Professor Emmanuel Adedolapo Lufadeju, has ensured that Gombe is well supported to offer these services and that Rotary is here to provide free basic health checks, including blood pressure and sugar level testing, as well as weight measurement, for everyone willing to participate.
Ndus further informed that there is an ongoing pilot project, “Together for Family Health,” being executed in Gombe, Ekiti, Nasarawa, and the Federal Capital Territory.
In Gombe State, the project is being implemented in Gombe and Yamaltu Deba Local Government Areas, with plans to expand to other LGAs based on the success and available funding. “Rotary remains fully committed to supporting the Gombe State Government on family health matters,” Ndus added.
One of the beneficiaries of the Rotary intervention, Mrs Fatima Umar Mohammed, said she appreciated the intervention of Rotary, since when she was pregnant and even now after delivery, saying pregnant women and children were being provided with immunisation and drugs and now again with mosquito treated net.
She blessed Rotary and the Gombe State Government for the intervention.
At the event, the Gombe State Commissioner of Health, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ibrahim Mohammed Jalo, stated that the week’s interventions aims to reduce maternal and under-five morbidity and mortality rates. Key beneficiaries include children aged six to 59 months, who will receive Vitamin A supplements and de-worming tablets.
Additionally, children will be screened for acute malnutrition, with those identified being referred for further care.
Other planned interventions during the week include immunisation services, all designed to strengthen routine health services for pregnant women, mothers, and children up to 59 months of age.
