Source: Daily Trust
The federal government yesterday officially began paying women to attend antenatal clinic in hope of increasing demand for a growing range of maternal and child health services and cutting down the number of women dying from childbirth complications.
Under the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme, each woman will be eligible for upwards of N5,000, accruing from the point of registering for antenatal clinic during pregnancy. They get N1,000 for each of four antenatal visits, plus "N2,000 when she comes to deliver and N1,000 when she brings her child to hospital" for immunisation, said minister of state for health, Muhammad Ali Pate.
Launching the pilot CCT programme at a health centre in Dei Dei, Bwari Area Council of Abuja, Pate said the scheme was "not a handout nor compensation, but a modest effort to incentivise our women to seek care" and change behaviour toward getting basic health services.
More than one million women attended antenatal clinic in government supported facilities, a record the minister called "impressive but just a beginning." He said the attendance helped prevent up to 218,000 preventable causes of mortality and morbidity.
"Nigeria is beginning to make progress toward reducing maternal mortality but change takes time," he said.
He called on state and local governments to "complement what the federal government is putting in" by investing in the CCT, which is funded from funds pulled off fuel subsidy--the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme.