The Abia State Government has introduced a locally developed digital platform, CyTracker, to identify and monitor high-risk pregnancies as part of efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality in the state.
The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Enoch Ogbonnaya Uche, announced the initiative while briefing journalists on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting at Government House, Umuahia.
Uche said CyTracker was designed to address specific challenges associated with maternal healthcare in the state by enabling health officials to identify pregnant women who face a higher risk of complications and ensure that they receive appropriate care.
He said the initiative particularly targets teenage mothers, women who do not receive supervised antenatal care and expectant mothers who may be at risk of delivering without the assistance of skilled birth attendants.
According to the commissioner, the application was developed locally and tailored to the realities of communities in Abia, making it an “Abia-born” solution to some of the state’s maternal healthcare challenges.
He disclosed that CyTracker had already been used by health workers to monitor and facilitate the delivery of several teenage mothers at the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia.
Uche explained that the technology allows medical personnel to monitor expectant mothers more closely and respond quickly when complications arise.
He said the application collects important information such as the age of the pregnant woman and her last menstrual period, allowing healthcare workers to calculate expected delivery dates and monitor attendance at antenatal clinics.
The platform can also send reminders to pregnant women about their antenatal appointments, while designated responsible adults in their communities can assist in ensuring that high-risk expectant mothers do not miss scheduled appointments.
Uche urged pregnant women in the state to enrol in the Abia State Health Insurance Scheme, noting that registered beneficiaries are entitled to free maternal healthcare and delivery services, including Caesarean sections, under the Basic Health Care Provision Fund.
“No pregnant woman should stay away from registering for health insurance. Once you do that, it makes life easy for everyone,” he said.
The commissioner said the deployment of CyTracker was part of the state government’s wider investment in healthcare infrastructure, human resources and health insurance.
He added that the technology would help ensure that pregnancies requiring additional attention were detected early and followed up before complications became life-threatening.
Uche said the initiative reflected the Otti administration’s commitment to making healthcare more accessible, affordable and technology-driven.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, said CyTracker had already demonstrated its usefulness in tracking teenage pregnancies and monitoring expectant mothers through the delivery process.
Kanu described the initiative as evidence of the administration’s efforts to deploy technology to improve healthcare delivery and outcomes in Abia.
He also disclosed that the state emerged as the top performer in healthcare affordability and ranked among the three leading states in healthcare quality in Nigeria in a recent assessment conducted by Philips Consulting SPI.
According to him, the assessment provided an independent indication of the impact of the administration’s reforms in improving healthcare access and quality.
Kanu said Abia was the only state that ranked among the top three in 13 of 16 indicators of good governance based on citizens’ perceptions.
He said the state’s performance in healthcare affordability and quality was particularly significant given the administration’s ongoing reforms in the sector.
Providing an update on Primary Healthcare Centres, the commissioner said the first 50 PHCs functionalised by the state government accounted for more than 20 per cent of the over 1.067 million outpatient department visits recorded across Abia between July 2025 and June 2026.
He disclosed that three more PHCs were functionalised between July 27 and August 10, bringing the total number of functionalised primary healthcare centres in the state to 151.
Kanu further revealed that enrolment in the Abia State Health Insurance Scheme increased from 233,000 to 237,000 between July 27 and August 7, 2026.
He said the state also recorded no disease of public health importance during the period under review, including Ebola, Lassa fever, COVID-19, diphtheria, cholera, mpox and yellow fever.
The commissioner disclosed that the Abiriba Community Improvement Union, North America Chapter, had pledged to sponsor 1,000 indigent residents under the state health insurance scheme.
He urged other communities, organisations and groups to support vulnerable residents by contributing to healthcare coverage initiatives.
On staffing, Kanu announced that the Abia State Civil Service Commission would commence another recruitment exercise for healthcare professionals.
He said the latest recruitment would build on the 742 medical personnel already employed by the state government under the current administration.
According to him, the new exercise would target medical officers, dental officers and consultants, including full-time and part-time consultants.
He added that the recruitment portal opened on Monday night, August 10, 2026.
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