A U.S -based philanthropic agency, Project C.U.R.E, embarked on training of medical personnel in Ekiti State health institutions as part of the ways to deal with the escalating infant mortality rate in Nigeria.
The one-day workshop dubbed: ‘Helping Babies Breathe (HBB)’ which held at Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) on Thursday, was powered by Project C.U.R.E, and facilitated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Miss Amy Greene, who spoke on behalf of the agency’s President, Dr. Douglas Jackson, said they decided to hold the programme in ABUAD as a mark of support for the newly commissioned 400-bed multi system Afe Babalola Teaching Hospital (ABUTH).
Greene, who revealed that the agency had donated $1 million medical equipment to ABUATH, said it has saved about 1,620 newborn babies from untimely death due to trainings it offered experts operating in sub-Saharan Africa.
She said “In Africa, less than 33 per cent of children had access to neonatal care and this mainly predisposed them to deaths caused by malnutrition, diarrhea, HIV/AIDS and other preventable diseases."
