The Nigerian Ministry of Health has developed a National Health Strategic Development Plan (NHSDP) in a step forward to the UN-set millennium goals, according to the government.
Linus Awute, the ministry's permanent secretary, made the announcement in the capital Abuja during an end-of-year meeting with the staff of the ministry.
"The NHSDP will represent the template for achieving all the deliverable involved in the health development plan," Awute told reporters.
The official said what was required was a national discipline built on the due process and transparency for the country to achieve health related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The MDGs entails the reduction of under-five mortality by two- thirds from 230 in 1990 to 77 per 1,000 live births by 2015 and reduction of
maternal mortality by three-fourths to 250 per 100, 000 live births by 2015.
The secretary said in order to address the gap identified in health development promotion, the ministry would ensure rural posting of medical doctors on clinical residency.
It would also promote the midwives service scheme as all would be targeted at the rural communities, he added.
The objectives, he said, were to increase the proportion of pregnant women receiving antenatal care, reduce neonatal mortality from 48 per 100 live births to 18 by 2015.
Other goals include the expansion of family planning services, and the effective partnership between community-based institutions and
facility-based health providers in all targeted communities.