NDHS: Ekiti Records Strong Improvement In Health Indices
The latest Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) has revealed that Ekiti State has made substantial strides in its key health indicators.
The NDHS report was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.
It reflected positive outcomes in maternal and child health and improvements in access to healthcare services across the state.
The report indicated that neonatal, infant, and under-five mortality in the state had reduced by over 50 per cent in the past five years.
According to a breakdown of the report, teenage pregnancy has reduced by 30 per cent; the unmet need for family planning decreased by 30 per cent, and facility delivery increased by 14 per cent.
It said that 45,000 additional under-five lives were saved between 2019 and 2024.
This represents 75 per cent of children under five that would have died if the state had maintained 2018 under-five mortality figures.
Also, the state moved from the 31st to the 5th best performer in neonatal mortality between 2019 and 2024.
According to the 2019 Nigeria NDHS, one in 24 infants died within the first month of births, and one in 11 children died before their fifth birthday.”
Speaking with NAN, Dr Oyebanji Filani, Ekiti State Commissioner for Health and Human Services, said that with the NDHS report, the state had surpassed its expected targets set four years ago.
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Filani is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Health Commissioners Forum.
He said there were key strategies that contributed to the milestone, which was a significant improvement compared to what was obtainable some four years ago.
He said that despite high coverage of selected interventions four years ago, the state’s health outcomes remained suboptimal and lagged behind other southwestern states.
The health commissioner said several factors were responsible for the commendable stance of the current state of the state’s health sector, including strong political leadership.
He said the support of the state governor, Biodun Oyebanji, had led to huge investment in the health sector; regular meetings and reviews, accountability and teamwork.
He listed other strategies including building aggressive partnership portfolios through demonstration of results, maintaining fiscal fidelity, and ensuring accountability through which more development partners felt comfortable working with the state.
He said that all these strategies had not only improved health outcomes but also laid a strong foundation for a resilient and sustainable health system in Ekiti State.
NAN reports that the NDHS findings come as a milestone for Ekiti, illustrating the impact of focused health interventions.
Experts have suggested that Ekiti’s model could inspire similar improvements in other states of the federation, advancing the country’s overall healthcare outcomes.
SOURCE: NAN
