Following the assessment report on Women’s Health, the Public Health Sustainable Advocacy Initiative (PHSAI) has appealed to the Lagos State Ministry of Health to prioritize women’s health in their budget and fund healthcare in the state.
At a capacity-building workshop in Lagos, PHSAI also inaugurated Inclusive Women’s Health and Rights Champions to strengthen the health of women in Lagos State.
The group recalled that accessibility and adequate funding are major gaps and that when there is a provision for a good health structure, women will be stronger.
Executive Director of PHSAI, Abiodun Ajayi, stated, “we need to save our state by saving the lives of women so that we can continually save the lives of future generations.”
Ajayi emphasized that, “we need to ensure that women’s voices are well amplified and that adequate funding is allocated for women’s projects.
“Let us work together to build a better and sustainable health facility that will be enviable across the federation, and together we can achieve all of these,” he said.
Barr. Ayo Adebusoye, Chairman of PHSAI, said there are about 512 maternal deaths for every 100,000 births, and this huge gap is due to the poor health outcomes for mothers and women in general, which is unacceptable.
“We have a very high maternal mortality rate in Nigeria, and Lagos is not excluded. It can only be possible to move away from this situation if we can have SMART objectives,” he said.
While celebrating the 20 champions, Adebusoye urged that the champions keep their passion up and stick to the clear objective identified to reduce maternal deaths in Lagos by 20% before 2030.
Adebusoye also encouraged the champions, saying, “It’s a marathon; it’s worth it even if the life of one woman is saved, then it’s a job well done because it’s not going to be easy.”
While delivering her goodwill message, President of the Medical Women Association of Nigeria, Dr. Funmi Ige, said, “If you take care of a woman and a child, you have taken care of the family, and when you do this, you have handled a nation.”
The project was funded by New Venture Fund through Pathfinder International.