JALINGO- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, through the Evidence for Action (E4A), an NGO, has I unveiled: the Taraba State Accountability Mechanism for MNCH (TaSAMM).
Dr Aminu Garba, the National Coordinator of E4A unveiled the mechanism at the end of a two-day training workshop in Jalingo for stakeholders.
He said the project was to promote Maternal Newborn and Child Health care (MNCH) in the state.
The stakeholders at the unveiling include: Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), community based organizations (CBOs), government representatives, women groups, the media, and religious leaders among others.
He said that the mechanism that would be funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; would be carrying out advocacy on various ways of reducing high maternal mortality rate in the state.
The National Coordinator of E4A urged members of TaSAMM to make use of the national data generated by the National Demographic Survey and other credible bodies to engage the relevant stakeholders in achieving the task ahead.
Garba noted that the NGO was worried about the 2013 National Demographic Health Survey report which put maternal mortality rate of Nigeria at 40, 000 per annum.
He charged TaSAMM members to carry out advocacy to all the urban and rural communities of the state to ensure improvement in maternal newborn and child health.
Also, Alhaji Aliyu Tukur, the Taraba State Coordinator of the NGO, assured the national coordinator that the 2016 survey on maternal mortality rate would show positive improvement in the state.
Tukur also pledged to do his best in ensuring that the state was fully sensitised on how to improve maternal newborn and child health.
He urged the federal and state governments to increase budgetary allocation to the health sector in order to save lives.
