Kwara begins training of 290 health workers in safe childbirth
- Kwara has started training 290 doctors, nurses, midwives and lab staff in skilled birth attendance.
- The two-week exercise in Ilorin runs from October 19 to November 3 under the federal HOPE programme.
- Officials say the aim is to cut maternal and newborn deaths and make the training yearly.
Kwara State has begun putting 290 health workers through a two-week course on handling childbirth safely, as the state pushes to bring down the number of mothers and newborns who die around delivery.
The training opened in Ilorin on October 19 and closes on November 3, 2026. It is run by the state with support from the Federal Government's Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity (HOPE) programme, which gives states grants for health and human capital projects.
The state Hospitals Management Board announced the exercise in a statement on Thursday through its press secretary, Adamu Usman Sabi.
Who is being trained and why
Those taking part include doctors, nurses, midwives and laboratory personnel, drawn from health facilities in all three senatorial districts of the state. The board's Director of Medical Services and Training, Femi Joseph, said the sessions cover the stages of labour, delivery and reviving newborns who struggle to breathe at birth, with hands-on practice forming a large part of the work.
The Executive Secretary of the board, Abdulraheem Malik, said the goal is to lower maternal and neonatal mortality in Kwara. "We are trying to drop the rate of maternal mortality and also neonatal mortality in Kwara State," he said.
Malik said deaths of mothers in the state have been falling and that the government wants to get closer to the standard set by the World Health Organisation. Spreading the trainees across the districts, he added, means communities in different parts of Kwara should feel the benefit.
The board's Director of Nursing Services, Hajia Risikat Oyewole, said Kwara is not among the states with the worst maternal mortality figures, but the government still wants preventable deaths cut to the minimum. Continuous retraining, she said, is central to that.
A resource person, Dr Olasinde Adeolu, said the falling trend reflects gains in maternal care. One participant, Nurse Florence, an Assistant Chief Nursing Officer, said the course let health workers refresh the correct steps from antenatal care through to delivery.
What happens next
Malik said the state hopes to repeat the training every year, starting with another round in 2027, so staff keep up with new methods and technology. He urged pregnant women to keep faith with the state's health facilities.
