The Business World – Benjamin Orisemeke
“The World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a $500 million International Development Association (IDA) credit to significantly improve maternal, child and nutrition health services for women and children in Nigeria. The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. By improving access to higher quality health services, the new development financing will help Nigeria to achieve its “Saving One Million Lives (SOML) Initiative,” which was launched by the Federal Ministry of Health in October 2012 to save the lives of the more than 900,000 women and children who die every year in Nigeria from largely preventable causes. Benjamin Loevinsohn, lead health specialist and task team leader for the new project, said that “Saving One Million Lives is a bold response from the Nigerian government to improve the health of the country’s mothers and children so they can survive illness and thrive. This, in turn, will also contribute to the social and economic development of Africa’s largest economy.” Nigeria accounts for 14 per cent of all annual maternal deaths worldwide, second only to India at 17 per cent . Similarly, it also accounts for 13 per cent of all global deaths of children under the age of five years, again second only to India at 21 per cent.”(more)