A non-governmental organisation, Health Education and Empowerment Initiative, HEDEN, has recorded a major achievement in the efforts towards curbing maternal and child mortality.
It launched the Sweet Mother Application for maternal and child health to that effect.
The App which was launched recently at Sango Ota, Ogun State, provides answers to questions bordering on pregnancy, breast care, diseases, sex, and family life.
The App is the first of its kind and translated into five languages – English, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo and Pidgin English.
Speaking on the effort, the Executive Director of HEDEN, Mrs. Folsade Ofurune, declared that the initiative was a result of a three months research conducted by her organisation in community health centres across Ifo local government area of Ogun State.
She said the effort became imperative as a result of the knowledge gaps and myths discovered among pregnant women and nursing mothers in the course of their work at the grassroots.
The Head of the United Nations Populations Fund, UNFPA, Dr. Omolaso Omosehin, who was present at the launching said that the Sweet Mother App was a first aid kit for the family.
He pointed out that going by the data base of the UNFPA, there were about 586 maternal deaths per 1,000 live births and they were largely due to lack of information.
The lack of information, he said, was the problem the Sweet Mother App would address.
The Executive Director of the Nigerian Network of NGOs, NNNGO, Mr. Oluseyi Oyebisi, was also present at the occasion.
He said the App would be useful for policy briefing.
The Executive Secretary of Ogun State Primary Healthcare Board, Dr. Elijah Ogunshola, represented the Commissioner for Health at the event.
The Programmes Director of HEDEN, Mr. Henry Ofurune, dedicated the App to Late Dr. R. Bradley Sack who was the Director of Child Health Foundation, USA, from 2009 – 2017.
In his address, he stated that Dr. Bradley Sack was an unsung hero whose work in combating infectious diseases, most notably diarrhoea diseases including cholera, helped avert millions of deaths around the world, particularly among infants and young children.
He said his research into diarrhoea diseases led to his discovery of Oral Rehydration Treatment, ORT, a solution of sugar, salt, potassium and water that restores lost fluid and prevents dehydration and death.
The treatment he said, eventually became a standard adopted by the World Health Organisation, WHO, and had been credited with saving over 50 million lives in the past 30 years.
The App was funded by Child Health Foundation, USA, Rainbow Cards Limited and Olubayo Nigeria Limited.
It can be downloaded on Googleplay and Playstore.
