To curb mortality of pregnant women and children under five, the Ondo State government and Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) have commenced implementation of the Immunization and Malaria Progress by Accelerating Coverage and Transforming Services (IMPACT) Project in the state.
The project which is funded by the World Bank will promote the use of Long-Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLIN) by pregnant women and children under five years of age, strengthen the case management skills of both public and private providers on the Integrated Management of Childhood Diseases (IMCI) and sensitize households on the use of Intermittent Preventive Treatment of Malaria in Pregnancy (IPTp) and Seasonal Malaria Chemoprophylaxis (SMC).
At an onboarding of community-based organizations deployed to the 18 Local Government Areas for sensitization activities, Ondo IMPACT Project Manager, Dr Folayan Abolaji said that the goal for the project is to reduce under-five mortality in the state by 40%, from 15 per 1000 live births to less than 10 per 1000 live births.
“Also, for pregnant mothers, we want to prevent mortality amongst them and reduce the burden of malaria scourge among the general public. It is a project bringing several levels of interventions into the malaria program to give us a desirable outcome,” he said.
Dr. Abolaji added that survey findings from previous distribution of Long-Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets in the state showed excellent distribution of nets but poor utilization to prevent malaria.
“This program will see to it that while making provision for necessary interventions, commodities, and drugs, we engage CSOs and CBOs that will propagate and increase the utilization of these services because if they are not properly engaged, all that we have used a lot of money to make provision for will be wasted. We don’t want that to happen.”
He urged the CBOs to make the state proud by working in tandem with the mandate and terms of reference given by IHVN.
IHVN IMPACT Project Chief of Party, Dr. Temitope Kolade, noted that the Institute will closely collaborate with the state to achieve its set targets.
“We are working with local community-based organizations to ensure that we gain ownership and easy acceptance of the project in the state. We are also going to work with the existing community structures, the gatekeepers, ward development committees, and local government structures.
One of the key messages that the CBOs will be passing across is how to prevent malaria. One of the new things that we have put into the design of this project is the social behavior change communication so that we are passing across knowledge for acceptance and cooperation of beneficiaries,” she said.
A representative from the participating Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) High Chief Akomolafe Pius from Knowledge Care Providers, said that the meeting exposed the CBOs to varied strategies to engage the community.
“Proper community engagement will inform proper project implementation. We have been enriched with the knowledge to be taken to the grassroots. Without appropriate knowledge, you won’t be able to deliver on goals, because you have to mobilize, inform, and convince the people in the local governments to imbibe the culture of health-seeking behaviour,” Chief Akomolafe added.
