Foundations and Development of Modern Maternal and Child Health Services in Sokoto Area of Northern Nigeria

Maternal and Child Health (MCH) service comprises various programmes organized for the purpose of providing medical, health and welfare services for mothers and children. Its medical aspect includes pre-natal (ante-natal) and postpartum (post-natal) services as well as paediatric care in infancy, childhood and adolescence. Health and welfare services of MCH on the other hand comprise provision of health education to parents for taking care of children, family planning and provision of such nutritional substances as milk and orange juice for children. The targets for MCH are all women in their reproductive age group (15-45 years of age), infants (0-2 years), children (2-12 years) and even adolescents (12-16 years) (EPHTI, 2003: 1 and Mishra, nd). Generally, modern health care services were first introduced in southern Nigeria when a hospital was established in Lagos in 1863 (Schram, 1971: 103). With regard to MCH, the services were a later development in the whole British Empire. They began to be in 1920s when the high mortality rate of mothers and babies especially during childbirth became a predominant concern in the Empire. Efforts to promote obstetric and paediatric medical services in Nigeria commenced firstly in southern Nigeria in 1922 and the services were extended to the northern Nigeria in 1929 (Von Tol, 2007: 110-113). Precisely, modern MCH services began in the area of Sokoto in northern Nigeria in 1930 and thus, this paper begins from that period.