The government of Taraba state has implemented programs to lower the rates of infant and maternal mortality.
Micah Madaki, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health, said this on Tuesday in Jalingo, the state capital, during the launch of the Community Health Influencers, Promoters, and Services (CHIPS) initiative.
Madaki lamented the continued loss of mothers and children in Nigeria who are under the age of five, despite the fact that 591 volunteers had been recruited for the program.
In addition to malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia, he said that young children were dying from lack of access to healthcare.
He believes that the CHIPS programme will help the situation since it will encourage people in rural regions to get their recommended immunizations.
If CHIPS agents are effectively mobilized to send household members to PHC facilities, “I am optimistic that the non-compliance and low routine immunization rates and other Primary Health Care services will become non-existent,” he stated.
Agyin Kefas, the governor’s wife, also spoke, and she remarked on how the CHIPS program is meant to encourage and support local households in accessing basic health care services through clinics and outreach programs all around the state.
In addition to providing basic promotional, preventative, and case management services, she reaffirmed that CHIPS agents have been appropriately educated to address simple cases of cough, malaria, and diarrhoea in children under the age of five.
Executive Secretary of the State Primary Health Care Development Agency (TSPHCDA) Dr. Tukura Nuhu has previously stated that the agency would continue working with development partners who have helped bring healthcare to the doorsteps of rural people.
He believed that the morale of the agency would increase if the state government helped provide permanent office space for the organization.