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… Trains 54 frontline workers
From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar
Cross River State has moved to drastically cut maternal and newborn deaths with the deployment of 18 ultrasound machines and specialized training for 54 frontline health workers across all 18 Local Government Areas.
The intervention is delivered through the World Bank-assisted IMPACT Project in partnership with the State Ministry of Health and Primary Healthcare Development Agency.
It targets a critical gap where most pregnant women in rural communities previously had no access to even one ultrasound scan during pregnancy.
Speaking at the opening of a 5-day training workshop in Calabar on Tuesday, Commissioner for Health, Dr. Egbe Ayuk, who represented Deputy Governor Peter Odey, said equipment without skilled personnel amounts to nothing.
“Having an ultrasound machine in a facility does not amount to success. You cannot define achievement just because you have put up a health facility,” Ayuk said.
He stressed that a functional health system rests on six building blocks, with human resources as central. “That is why we are training you. You must have the required human resources to make the machines work,” he told participants.
IMPACT Project Manager, Paul Odey, disclosed that the 18 ultrasound scanners were deployed to one high-performing primary health facility in each LGA. The training targets midwives, radiographers, community health officers and clinicians to enable task-shifting in underserved areas.
“Every pregnant woman is meant to have a minimum of three ultrasound scans before delivery. Before now, most women in rural communities did not get even one,” Odey said.
He added that the project is already yielding results. Maternal mortality in the state dropped from 54 in 2023 to 6 in the first quarter of 2026, while routine immunization coverage improved by 23%.
Director General of the Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Vivian Otu, charged the trainees to translate the knowledge into action.
“It is not about supplies. For every pregnant woman that walks into our facility, that woman has no business losing her life or the life of the baby,” Otu said.
She urged facilities to handle only normal deliveries and refer complications promptly, noting that monitoring mechanisms are in place to ensure the machines are properly used.
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