December 2010, Young mothers of Kokona community in Garaku Local Government area of Nasarawa state have praised leading consumer goods company Procter & Gamble for the benefits they derived from the Pampers Mobile Clinic, the company’s corporate social responsibility initiative which berthed in their community.
The Mobile Clinic is an advisory “Clinic-on-wheels” programme designed to meet mothers and babies, right where they live. The clinic is taken to mothers and babies in semi-urban areas where challenges such as finance, transportation, education and inaccessibility of facilities are usually a hindrance to taking the best care of their babies.
The mobile clinic in Nasarawa, which comprised a team of medical practitioners, led by Dr. Eze Ifeoma docked at the market square in Kokona last Thursday and witnessed an influx of hundreds of young mothers who trooped there to be attended to. Many of the mothers who are excited and grateful for the free baby care/hygiene education, health checks and diaper samples they got from the clinic said that the initiative has helped them to know how better to take care of their babies.
Garaku mothers who availed themselves of the opportunity of Mobile Clinic were given instructions on issues like feeding habits, breast feeding, sleep patterns, vaccination, and common ailments, which are usually the source of their worries.
Mary Haruna, one of the young mothers said: “The clinic has done well for us. We were taught about how to feed our babies, how to help them sleep well without waking up many times in the middle of the night. The nurse weighed our babies to know how well they have been doing at their age. Then the doctor attended to our babies and told us what to do in case they are not feeling fine. After that, we went to the general shed where another nurse spoke to us and gave us gifts of Pampers. It is a very good thing they are doing for us.”
Rahinatu Gaya, another mother who attended the Mobile Clinic in Kokona said: “We are very happy. They are teaching us many things we did not know.”
According to the brands operations manager, P&G West Africa, Ogbemi Kesiena, “Pampers Mobile Clinic is part of the broader P&G purpose of touching and improving lives. The clinic passes through several hundred communities every year. By June of next year, we hope that the current round of Mobile Clinic will have reached 700 Nigerian communities.”
The public relations manager, P&G, Busola Adetosoye, said Mobile Clinic forms an integral part of the “Live, Learn, and Thrive”, the company’s global corporate social responsibility platform, which focuses on the development of children in need between the ages of zero and thirteen years. The Mobile Clinic which ensures a healthy start for children covers the “Live” aspect of the platform.
“At P&G our purpose is to touch and improve lives. We look out for communities where access to primary healthcare facilities is not easily available and reach out to the mothers and babies with health care and baby care education, thus enabling a healthy start for the babies.”
No comments:
Post a Comment