By Ahmed Ahmed
The Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) Project of the College of Medical Sciences, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, has carried out a sensitisation campaign on Minimally Invasive Tissue Sampling (MITS) in Bayara community of Bauchi Local Government Area, aimed at reducing child mortality and improving healthcare awareness among women and families.
Speaking during the campaign, the Principal Investigator of the CHAMPS Project in Bauchi, Dr. Muhammad Faruk Bashir, represented by Dr. Magaji Dafi, highlighted the persistent causes of deaths among children under the age of five and stressed the importance of the sensitisation programme.
He explained that the campaign was designed to educate community members on the significance of MITS and its role in identifying the exact causes of child mortality in order to improve healthcare interventions and policy decisions.
Dr. Bashir also emphasised the importance of antenatal care (ANC), proper healthcare from pregnancy to childbirth, as well as routine immunisation for children, describing them as critical steps toward reducing maternal and child mortality.
The District Head of Miri and Chairman of the Community Advisory Board (CAB), Alhaji Hussaini Othman, expressed concern over the increasing cases of deaths among children under five years in communities.
He urged pregnant women and nursing mothers to embrace antenatal care services and ensure their children receive complete immunisation.
Also speaking, Dr. Ummulkulshum Musa, a representative of the World Health Organization, reiterated the importance of antenatal care attendance and immunisation in safeguarding the health of mothers and children.
Similarly, Chairperson of the Medical Women Association of Nigeria, Dr. Kalthumi Suhaibu, corroborated the call for regular ANC attendance among women in the community.
A pediatrician with Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Dr. Aisha Zaidu, explained that Minimally Invasive Tissue Sampling, also known as minimally invasive autopsy, is a post-mortem procedure involving needle biopsies of key organs such as the liver, lungs and brain to determine causes of death.
According to her, the procedure serves as an alternative to conventional autopsy, particularly in low-resource settings, and has proven effective in improving mortality surveillance and identifying infectious diseases.
She encouraged families to permit the procedure whenever necessary for medical investigations.
On his part, Dr. Jamilu Yaya, who leads the community engagement team, stated that MITS is widely used in CHAMPS studies to accurately determine causes of stillbirths, neonatal and child deaths, thereby improving public health data and supporting evidence-based healthcare interventions.
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