As part of efforts to improve maternal and perinatal health care, the Ogun State government is planning to launch a Hub and Spoke Pilot Project.

          Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker revealed this in Ilisan during a meeting with Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs), communities and religious leaders, as well as relevant stakeholders in Ikenne Local Government.

          Coker described the project as a strategic referral pathway that integrates TBAs, Primary Health Centers (PHCs), secondary health facilities, and the teaching hospital, to fast track a drastic reduction of perinatal deaths in the State.

          The Commissioner noted that the government had identified TBAs as an integral part of its vision of enhancing the maternal and perinatal health care system.

          "This project will avail us the opportunity to come to terms with the fact that many of our people are comfortable with the TBAs. So, we have decided to bring these traditional maternity practitioners to the table, understand their challenges, train them on dangers, signs of safe motherhood, and neonatal care.

          "By collaborating with our TBAs, we also have the massive chance to provide supportive supervision of their activities. This will go a long way to positively impact the maternal and perinatal burden in the State", she said.

          The Commissioner called on all relevant stakeholders in Ikenne Local Government (LGA), to support the pilot phase of the project which would be launched officially very soon, adding that it would be replicated across the other LGAs in the coming months.

          Reacting, the State Chairman, TBAs, Mr. Oladehinde Shoremekun, disclosed that the relationship that the present administration has established with TBAs through the Ogun State Alternate Medicine Board has been yielding good results, saying the proposed Hub and Spoke project would reduce maternal and perinatal deaths in the State.