Efforts of the Kwara State Government at reducing child and maternal mortality, particularly in its rural communities, have been commended.

Speaking at a one-day training programme for health workers on maternal morbidity and mortality reduction, popularly called, Safe Motherhood, in Ilorin, at the weekend, a professor of Obstetrics Gynaecology in the University of Ilorin, Professor Abiodun Aboyeji, said the state government has provided structures and infrastructures, human personnel and strategy to reduce maternal mortality in the state.

Safe Motherhood, as a concept, refers to a situation in which no woman going through the physiological processes of pregnancy and childbirth suffers any injury or loses her life or that of the baby.

Professor Aboyeji also said that efficient transportation facility, effective blood transfusion system, efficient water and power supply, including human personnel, are needed to be put in place during pregnancy, delivery and post (partum) delivery to ensure reduction in maternal mortality.

The health expert, who said there should be more seriousness on the efforts made so far, added that the situation has not improved much.

Also speaking, the Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Kayode Issa, said there was need for skilled obstetric care for pregnant women in the effective prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS.

This is just, as he said, that about 59 per cent of Nigerian women deliver without attending any health clinic or antenatal care.

The commissioner, who represented Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed at the occasion, said the obstetric care was necessary to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of reducing maternal and child mortality rate by two-third of the pre MDG levels by  2015.

The commissioner, who said that it was essential to promote safe motherhood, added that out of every 100 pregnant women, 75 of them would have normal deliveries, five would have to be operated upon and 15 would have complications.

"It is sad to note also that it is difficult to ascertain those that will develop complications or will require operations until the delivery day," he said.

He, however, added that, "so far, the proportion of birth attended to by skilled personnel had dropped from 41.6 per cent in 2000 to 36.3 per cent in 2005 indicating a very gloomy likelihood of attaining the MDGs."

The state government, he said, "is making  efforts in seeing that maternal mortality is reduced to barest minimum through the employment of skilled health birth attendant in all health facilities, provision of free nets and implementation of the biannual maternal and newborn child health week, as well as provision of free malaria treatment for pregnant women and children under 5 years in our health facilities."