The Daily IIJ

The United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) and the office of the first lady Mrs Sia Koroma has commenced a two-day consultative forum on the role of traditional and religious leaders on the  fight to reduce the high rate of maternal mortality in Sierra Leone. Major obstacle which limited women’s access to basic rights, such as quality reproductive health care, nutritional level, HIV status, education, poverty and inequity of social factors, were highlighted as been responsible for the high rate of maternal and neonatal incidences.

Community leaders, including traditional and religious leaders, were drawn from all parts of the country to participate in the first consultative forum, to empower them to play key roles in averting maternal death through advocacy, mobilization and education of families, to ensure that all women attend antenatal and postnatel care. In his keynote address, president koroma stress that the incidence of maternal mortality is of concern to the government, as this is one of the reasons responsible for Sierra Leone’s present position at the Human Development Index. His excellency Dr. Halimu Yahaya, emir of Sokoto State, Nigeria, lauded the first lady Sia Koroma, for the initiative to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality rate in Sierra Leone. He urged community leaders not to mislead the trust imposed on them; nothing that primary health care should be prioritized.