By Isaiah Eka
A Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) SightSavers says it was committed to ensuring improved healthcare and reducing child mortality in Akwa Ibom.
The Project Coordinator, Dr. Teyil Wamyil-Mshelia, said this on Saturday in Uyo while fielding questions from newsmen during the close out ceremony of the safety and anti-microbial resistance of mass administration of azithromycin (SARMAAN) to children aged 1-11 months in Ikono LGA.
She said that with the SARMAAN Project, they were committed to drugs administration to reduce child mortality in Nigeria.
She said the project recorded a milestone in its pilot phase with the successful treatment of over 36, 000 children with azithromycin drugs to enhance their life expectancy in Ikono Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom.
She added that the pilot phase conducted in the LGA was aimed at ensuring that children between the age bracket of 1-11 months receive the drugs under strict monitoring to ascertain it safety and anti-microbial resistance in children
“SARMAAN project is a very good project that was introduced in Nigeria in 2020 with a field work and so far, its been very successful.
“Azithromycin is a very good medicine, it’s an antibiotics that is used for the treatment of many ailments that affect children and that also contribute to infants and children deaths between 0 to 05 years.
“So, this drug was used mainly to show the effects of it on child survival, that is why we were monitoring the safety of the medicine and its anti-microbial resistance.
“We have been able to treat over 36, 000 children in Ikono LGA and we were able to engage with caregivers for them to know the usefulness of the medicine,” she said.
She expressed satisfaction with the level of acceptability of the project in the LGA, and called on the state government to key into it in order to bridge the infant mortality gap in the state.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr Ekem John, commended all the partners for making the project a huge success.
John, represented by Dr Etop Antia, Director of Public Health, Ministry of Health, said the SARMAAN project was expected to complement ongoing child survival intervention in low and middle income countries.
“In Akwa Ibom State the intervention was implemented using routine immunisation programme.
“Infants aged one to eleven months received azithromycin every six months for 2 years (2022 to 2024).
“The implementation was made possible through the collaborative partnership led by the Department of Family Health, Federal Ministry of Health, funded by the Gate Foundation while Sightsavers spearhead the implementation,” John said.
Mr. Emem Uwah, who spoke on behalf of Ikono people expressed happiness about the project and the commitment of the officials towards its success in the Council.
“They did their work diligently; they went through creeks, we have riverine areas, but they were never scared and our children will feel the healthiness in them.
“We have seen improvements with this drug and I want to thank WHO, the Federal and the State Governments for choosing our local government for the pilot scheme,” Uwah said.
