Failure to achieve SDG by 2030 has dire consequences, says Saraki

If Nigeria fails to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, it will miss targets on maternal, child and neonatal mortality. Founder-President of Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA), Toyin Saraki, said this on Friday in Berlin, Germany, at the 5th German-Africa Health Symposium.

She explained that such failure would also bring about missed targets on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), tuberculosis (TB), malaria, family planning, child stunting and universal health coverage.

In a statement issued, yesterday, in Abuja by the foundation, Saraki described the action plan presented by World Health Organisation (WHO) at the summit, aimed at aligning, accelerating, accounting, and putting together in full over the next 12 months, as an urgent wake-up call to global institutions and governments around the world.

She said: “Global health threats require global responses, but without adequate investment, we will fail to provide health and wellbeing for future generations that we have promised.”

She disclosed that the Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care known as (EmONC) training programme has resulted in a 15 percent reduction in maternal case fatality rate and a 38 percent reduction in the stillbirth rate at health care facilities, where the project is implemented.

According to her, over 600 healthcare providers would benefit directly from the interventions, while over the 30-month project, an estimated 62,900 women and their newborns would benefit from the interventions implemented.