By Gami Tadanyigbe
The Daisy Oak Foundation, in partnership with the Veronica Foundation, Vivacity Development has flagged off the Maternal Access, Mapping and Accountability Linkage (MAMA-LINK) Initiative and the Primary Healthcare (PHC) Oxygen Readiness Project at PHC Gbazango, Bwari Area Council – Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The initiatives are aimed at improving access to maternal healthcare, strengthening community-to-facility linkages and enhancing the capacity of primary healthcare facilities to respond to maternal, newborn and emergency health needs.
Under the initial phase of the MAMA-LINK Initiative, 30 pregnant women have been enrolled to benefit from an integrated maternal healthcare support package covering antenatal care (ANC), nutrition, delivery preparation, financial access, emergency transportation information, delivery support and post-delivery follow-up.
Speaking on the initiatives, the Programme Director – Daisy Oak Foundation, Dr. Kiema Ogunlana, said MAMA-LINK was established to bridge the gap between awareness of maternal healthcare services and actual access to those services.
She explained that the initiative was designed to ensure that pregnant women received practical support throughout their maternal healthcare journey, rather than merely being sensitised or referred to health facilities.
” We should not stop at sensitisation and we should not stop at referral. We should be able to ask whether the woman actually reached care, whether she was able to attend her ANC visits, whether cost or transportation stood in her way, and whether she was prepared for delivery,” she said.
Ogunlana noted that the successful enrolment of 30 pregnant women and the safe delivery of three beneficiaries during the project’s early phase demonstrated the importance of community-based identification, timely referrals and sustained support.
She added that MAMA-LINK was designed to support women from identification and antenatal care linkage through nutrition support, delivery preparation, emergency transportation, financial access and post-delivery follow-up.
The partnership brings together complementary expertise to ensure effective implementation of the projects.
While Daisy Oak Foundation leads community engagement, maternal health mobilisation, beneficiary linkage and follow-up, Veronica Foundation provides support for data management, digital tracking, monitoring and accountability.
The Foundation disclosed that community identification and enrolment activities commenced before the official flag-off, during which pregnant women who were not attending antenatal clinics were identified and linked to the health facility.
It added that three women identified during the early implementation phase had since delivered successfully, with both mothers and their babies reported to be doing well.
The initiative is designed to address practical barriers preventing pregnant women from accessing essential maternal healthcare services, including financial constraints, transportation difficulties, inadequate information and poor linkage with healthcare facilities.
Beyond community sensitisation and referrals, the programme provides financial support for routine antenatal care attendance, MAMA-LINK Delivery Kits, and Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) to promote maternal nutrition during pregnancy.
The initiative also covers delivery costs for enrolled beneficiaries who give birth within the programme period, thereby reducing the financial burden associated with accessing skilled birth attendance.
In addition, beneficiaries are guided on available health insurance schemes and government-supported maternal healthcare financing options to improve their understanding of and access to affordable healthcare services.
As part of its emergency preparedness component, pregnant women and their families are also sensitised on the 3581 emergency maternal transport pathway to enable them to access available emergency transportation when urgent maternal care is required.
To ensure accountability and continuity of care, the programme will track beneficiaries throughout their maternal healthcare journey using structured monitoring tools, including a Maternal Journey Tracker, referral records, follow-up instruments and barrier-resolution logs.
These mechanisms are designed to establish whether beneficiaries successfully access referred services, attend antenatal appointments, overcome financial and transportation challenges and receive appropriate care when needed.
Meanwhile, the PHC Oxygen Readiness Project is designed to strengthen the facility’s capacity to provide timely oxygen support, particularly in maternal, newborn and emergency care.
The project will assess the availability, functionality, maintenance and monitoring of oxygen-related equipment and systems, including oxygen sources, gauges, regulators, flowmeters, pulse oximeters, refill systems, storage facilities and safety procedures.
According to the Foundation, the objective goes beyond providing equipment to ensuring that available oxygen resources remain functional, properly maintained and sustainable.
The Program Director Veronica Foundation, Mr. Agbane Godwin, in his remarks said programme is being implemented in collaboration with the Bwari Area Council and PHC Gbazango, with clinical services provided by qualified healthcare professionals and supports strategic partnerships and resource mobilisation.
Agbane emphasised that the initiatives were guided by the principle that pregnant women should not only be aware of available maternal healthcare services but should also be able to access, afford and navigate them while receiving care from adequately prepared health facilities.
With the theme, “From Awareness to Access,” MAMA-LINK seeks to promote a more responsive and accountable maternal healthcare system by addressing barriers between communities and primary healthcare facilities.
On his part, the District Head of Bwari Chiefdom in Bwari Area Council, Jibrin Mohammed, expressed appreciation to the organisers for the kind gesture, describing it as a commendable act of generosity and community service.
He urged other well-meaning Nigerians, organisations and philanthropists to emulate the gesture by supporting initiatives that would promote the welfare and well-being of members of their communities.