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Over 36,000 children in the Ikono Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State have benefitted from a mass administration of azithromycin drugs aimed at reducing infant mortality. The intervention was part of the Sarmaan Project, a collaborative effort between the Department of Family Health, Federal Ministry of Health, and Sightsavers, an international non-governmental agency, funded by the Gates Foundation.
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According to Dr. Teyil Wamiyel-Mshella, project coordinator, “The Sarmaan project is a very good project that was introduced in Nigeria in 2020 with fieldwork, and so far, it has been very successful.” The project’s primary goal is to ensure that children between the ages of 1 and 11 months receive azithromycin, an antibiotic used to treat various ailments affecting children, under strict monitoring to ascertain its safety and antimicrobial resistance.
Wamiyel-Mshella explained that “azithromycin is a very good medicine; it’s an antibiotic that is used for the treatment of many ailments that affect children and also contribute to infant and child deaths between 0 and 5 years.” The project has treated over 36,000 children in Ikono LGA and engaged caregivers to demonstrate the usefulness of the medicine
The project coordinator expressed satisfaction with the level of acceptability of the project in the LGA and called on the state government to key into it to bridge the infant mortality gap in the state. “We have been able to treat over 36,000 children in Ikono LGA, and we were able to engage with carers for them to know the usefulness of the medicine,” Wamiyel-Mshella said.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Ekem John, represented by Dr. Etop Antia, commended all partners for making the project a success. “I want to recognise the good people of Ikono LGA, the chairman, and the paramount ruler that allowed this activity to succeed,” he said.
The Executive Secretary of Akwa Ibom State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. (Mrs.) Eno Attah, appreciated the Federal Ministry of Health for selecting Akwa Ibom State for the pilot project. A stakeholder in Ikono Community, Hon. Emem Joseph Uwah, also expressed happiness about the project, saying, “They did their work diligently; they went through creeks… Our children will feel the healthiness in them. We have seen improvement in this drug, and I want to thank WHO and the federal and state governments for choosing our local government for the pilot scheme.
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