An appraisal of the year 2013 biannual maternal, newborn and child health week in Edo State: Looking backwards and moving forwards

This study appraises the Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Week in Edo State for May and November 2013 with a view to identifying coverage of services and reasons for low coverage as well as the challenges encountered in the implementation of the programme. It is a descriptive study and involved an examination of the records of the Edo State Ministry of Health as well as in - depth interview of key participants and focused group discussion. We found that the implementation was satisfactory in 16.7% out of 12 commodities that were covered during the MNCHWs in the State. The study also found that the major challenges that impeded the implementation of MNCHW in Edo State include low funding, shortage of vaccines and other items as well as poor motivation of staff and inadequate social mobilization. Keywords: Appraisal, maternal, newborn, child health, week, Edo State