The Federal Government has launched a new incentive scheme aimed at increasing the use of maternal and newborn healthcare services and reducing preventable deaths among women and babies across the country.
The initiative, introduced under the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative, was flagged off at the State House, Abuja, by the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, on Monday.
Speaking at the event, the First Lady said the intervention was another step towards ensuring that Nigerian women receive timely and quality care during pregnancy and childbirth.
She said reducing maternal and neonatal deaths required deliberate interventions to remove barriers preventing women and families from accessing essential healthcare services.
Tinubu, who commended the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Ali Pate, and his team, said their commitment to improving healthcare delivery had made her work easier.
“It’s been a joy working with you. You work so passionately, even if people don’t know, not just locally but internationally.
“And what you have brought to this table has made it easy for me to do the job whenever you come, even no matter how tired I get. God bless you,” she said.
The First Lady also praised the ministry’s team for its commitment to improving healthcare services for Nigerians.
“Your team too, it’s quite infectious. All of them are just there doing what is needful for Nigerians. I want to sincerely applaud you and thank you for all that you do,” she added.
In his remarks, Pate said the initiative was developed under the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative to tackle both the supply and demand sides of maternal healthcare.
He said the intervention covered the strengthening of primary healthcare facilities, human resources, essential commodities and affordability of services.
Pate disclosed that more than 60,000 women had received free Caesarean sections and other emergency obstetric services through the National Health Insurance Authority, while more than 120,000 frontline health workers had been retrained.
He added that thousands of health facilities had been revitalised, while more than 6,000 women affected by obstetric fistula had received corrective treatment and empowerment support.
According to the minister, the new incentives are intended to encourage pregnant women to register early for antenatal care, deliver in health facilities and return for postnatal care.
He also stressed the importance of maternal nutrition, including multiple micronutrient supplementation, saying healthy mothers were essential to the development of Nigeria’s human capital.
Pate urged state governments and commissioners for health to sustain and expand the gains recorded under the initiative, noting that states were closer to communities and therefore had a critical role to play in improving health outcomes.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, said Nigeria’s maternal mortality burden remained unacceptably high.
Salako, citing the 2023–24 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, said a Nigerian woman faced approximately a one-in-19 lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes.
He added that Nigeria accounted for nearly 29 per cent of global maternal deaths, describing the figure as a major reason for sustained and targeted interventions.
The minister said the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative, launched by the Federal Government in November 2024, targets 172 local government areas across 33 states.
According to him, the targeted LGAs represent about 20 per cent of the country’s LGAs but account for approximately 55 per cent of maternal deaths.
He said the initiative was designed to reduce maternal mortality by 30 per cent and neonatal mortality by 20 per cent in the targeted areas by 2028, while providing free, timely and comprehensive care to about 2.9 million pregnant women.
Salako disclosed that more than 250 health facilities were currently implementing the programme in Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Ogun states, with more than 32,000 women and 1,700 newborns already benefiting from emergency obstetric and neonatal care.
He added that the National Emergency Medical Treatment and Ambulance System had transported nearly 79,000 beneficiaries to appropriate healthcare facilities, with pregnant women accounting for about 60 per cent of the beneficiaries.
The minister further said fourth-visit antenatal attendance in the targeted LGAs had increased by 20 per cent in one quarter.
Salako said the new incentives would reinforce behaviours capable of saving lives, particularly early antenatal registration, facility-based delivery and postnatal follow-up.
He reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to reducing preventable maternal and newborn deaths and ensuring that no woman dies while giving birth.
Pate and Salako commended President Bola Tinubu, the First Lady, health agencies, state governments and development partners, including UNICEF, UNFPA, USAID and the World Health Organisation, for their support.
They pledged that the Federal Government would continue to accelerate interventions aimed at reducing preventable maternal and neonatal deaths.