Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Executive Director, Faisal Shuaib says only 463 of the 25,843 primary healthcare facilities in Nigeria have the minimum number of required Skilled Birth Attendants (SBA).
Faisal who stated this Wednesday in Abuja during a briefing on the Community-Based Health Research Innovative Training and Services Program (CRISP) said aside from the gross inadequacy; there was the problem of unequal distribution of available SBAs in the primary healthcare facilities.
Shuaib explained that this was part of the findings of a national health facility assessment in 2022 carried out by the agency, noting that to address the problem, the NPHCDA came up with CRISP which would be launched on Monday.
“Availability of skilled health workers in PHC facilities is critical to curbing maternal, perinatal, neonatal morbidity and mortality,” he said.
Eduardo Celades, UNICEF Nigeria Chief of Health said only 70 percent of pregnant women in Nigeria currently had access to antenatal care, with only 60 percent receiving complete antenatal checkups.
Celades said only half of the newborns were attended to by skilled birth attendants, while neonatal and under-five mortality rates remained high.
In a remark, WHO Country Representative, Walter Mulombo, said the Community-Based Research Innovative Training and Services Programme would help generate evidence and ultimately improve health outcomes.
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