By ALEX ENEBELI

The Wife of the Enugu State Governor, Mrs Nkechinyere Mbah, through her Custos Care Foundation (CCF), has enrolled 868 pregnant women from the 17 Council Areas in Enugu into the state’s health insurance scheme.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the initiative, tagged “MamaCare Health Insurance Onboarding Programme,” with the theme “A Healthy Life Begins in the Womb,” was held on Saturday at the International Conference Centre, (ICC), Enugu.

The foundation also distributed 868 bags of 10kg rice to the beneficiaries.

Speaking at the event, Mrs Mbah said the initiative was aimed at ensuring that vulnerable pregnant women had access to quality healthcare before, during and after childbirth without the burden of medical costs.

She said the expanded MamaCare Initiative was about protecting mothers, children and families, stressing that a healthy child began with a healthy mother.

According to her, the MamaCare Initiative, launched in 2024, had enrolled more than 1,800 pregnant women, providing them with access to antenatal care, delivery services and postnatal support.

She said the experience had strengthened the foundation’s resolve to expand the programme and reach more vulnerable women.

The governor’s wife said the expanded initiative was anchored on four pillars, namely access to healthcare services, maternal nutrition and wellness, safe pregnancy and delivery, and postnatal and early child support.

She said the health insurance coverage would remove financial barriers that often prevented vulnerable women from seeking timely medical attention.

“Health insurance is therefore not simply about providing a card. It is about providing access, it is about providing protection, and sometimes it is about saving a life,” she said.

On maternal nutrition, Mbah said the initiative would promote nutrition education, healthy living and food outreach programmes, adding that the wellbeing of a mother during pregnancy directly affected the health of her child.

She urged pregnant women to attend antenatal appointments regularly, take warning signs seriously and seek care from accredited healthcare facilities.

Mbah also disclosed that the foundation would soon launch “Hope After Grief,” a support programme aimed at assisting women who experience grief, trauma and emotional challenges during pregnancy, childbirth or after delivery.

She said the foundation planned to reach at least 1,000 additional mothers across rural and semi-urban communities in Enugu State in 2026.

She called on government, healthcare professionals, families, traditional and community leaders, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to contribute to the promotion of safe motherhood.

In her remarks, Mrs Edith Okolo, Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Enugu State Agency for Universal Health Coverage, said the agency was collaborating with Mbah to implement the MamaCare Initiative.

She disclosed that the governor’s wife was funding one year of health insurance coverage for the beneficiaries, while the agency was responsible for registering them and providing access to accredited healthcare providers.

“Today, we are registering them for free health insurance and issuing them cards. Then they will be able to go to any of our accredited healthcare providers to receive health services,” Okolo said.

She said accredited providers included public, private and mission hospitals across the state.

According to her, the beneficiaries will have access to antenatal care, delivery services and healthcare for their newborn babies under the scheme.

Okolo explained that the programme also had a mechanism for beneficiaries to report any difficulty they encountered while accessing healthcare services.

She further explained that after the sponsored 12-month period, beneficiaries would be encouraged to renew their insurance themselves, noting that the annual premium was N12,000.

On her part, Mrs Egodi Igwe, Managing Director of Custos Care Foundation, said the foundation enrolled 1,801 women under the MamaCare Initiative in 2024 and was enrolling another 868 women in the latest phase.

Igwe said the foundation had so far invested more than N20 million in health insurance coverage for pregnant women.

She said the programme would be implemented in phases, with plans to scale up the number of beneficiaries in subsequent phases.

One of the beneficiaries, Mrs Chigozie Chukwu, described the initiative as “beautiful and fantastic,” saying it would help reduce the financial burden associated with childbirth.

“May God Almighty bless our mama, Mrs Nkechinyere Mbah, for her love and kind gesture towards Enugu women and children,” she said. (NAN)

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