Deeply
concerned that Nigeria loses about 700 babies daily from complications
during childbirth, Unilever Nigeria has called for heightened and active
participation of organisations and individuals to address the tragedy.
Apart from losing babies at tender age
whose potential could turn the economy around, Unilever, which has
three-year $50 million global commitment for child and mother care, is
concerned on the future huge negative impact of the loss of that
staggering number of children daily on the bourgeoning economy like
Nigeria.
In his desire to see more companies take
up the challenge of reducing child mortality rate in Nigeria, the CEO
of Unilever Nigeria, Yaw Nsarkoh, appealed to corporates and individuals
for heightened and active participation in their actions.
Marking the Red Balloon Day on Tuesday, a
programme by the organisation to promote quality care for mothers and
babies at the time of birth run by Save the Children, Nsarkoh said the
“children are our future. Some of the issues we are talking about, if we
don’t address them there would be negative impact on the ability of
Nigeria to compete globally, because we are talking about intellectual
development”.
He believes that any Nigerian child should be made to grow in a way where they could compete on world stage.
He said every year, 6.9 million children
globally die before their 5th birthday, mostly from preventable
diseases or simply because they don’t have enough food to eat. In
Nigeria, 700 babies die every day from complications during childbirth
and infections with one in every 13 women dying due to pregnancy-related
conditions.
As business actors and corporate
citizens in a larger eco-system, “we should begin to appreciate the
problem. There is a problem that 700 children are dying each day in
Nigeria. There is a problem that over 100 million people are living in
poverty. No one can solve the whole problem but we need to build a
larger eco-system”, he said.
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