Five Ways an Innovative Program Increased Facility Birth in Nigeria

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By: Nnenna Ihebuzor, Director of Primary Health Care Systems Development; Seye Abimbola, Research Fellow; Ugo Okoli, Program Director of SURE-P Maternal and Child Health Programme, Nigeria's National Primary Health Care Development Agency

The Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) was set up as a game changer to reduce maternal and child mortality so Nigeria could achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on maternal and child health (MCH). Since the publication of our PLoS Medicine paper, the MSS has subsequently been scaled up from 625 PHC facilities to an additional 375 facilities, providing 1,000 facilities across Nigeria with an additional 4,000 midwives and 1,000 community health extension workers. In addition, the MSS has influenced life-saving policy change which has increased facility deliveries and saved lives…read more