From Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin Kebbi
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Global Affairs Canada (GAC), with partnership with the Kebbi State Government are set to find lasting solutions to adolescent pregnancy, malnutrition and anemia.
The Chief Field Officer, Sokoto Field Office of UNICEF, Mr Michael Juma while addressing stakeholders at the two days state engagement meeting held in Birnin Kebbi organised by Global Affairs Canada Initiative on improving health and nutrition status of women, adolescents and children,noted that the health indicators in the state required a lot of rethink among themselves.
The meeting was also to enhance access to gender-responsive sexual and reproductive health, maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH), and nutrition services, through strengthened primary healthcare and community systems.
According to him, “the adolescent birthrate for Kebbi state is approximately 135 births per 1,000 life-birth. That is very high if you compare with the national average of 70.
” If you look at the rate of anemia of women in their productive age, 60.5 per cent. If you look at the children under five is 80.8 per cent. If you look at the nutrition which is critical for the development of children, the state has stunted rate of 06 to 06.1 per cent.
” If you look at the early marriage, we have 80 to 89.5 per cent. Looking at these indicators collectively, indicators of envisioning the work plan to utilize the resources reflected the indicators at what you can do to improve and lower the dictators in the state,” he said.
Juma observed that the delivery of healthcare in the 21 century was not what it was to b, saying that there was need for them to have paradigm shift towards the utilisation of health system.
” Hence we are targeting over 2.6 million women and children across Kebbi, Bauchi, and Kaduna States The initiative will address pressing challenges such as adolescent pregnancy, malnutrition, and anemia.
” It also seeks to empower women and adolescents to claim their health rights and increase accountability in service delivery.
This program demonstrates Kebbi State’s commitment to ensuring equitable and quality healthcare for its most vulnerable populations,” the chief officer said.
In his remark, Kebbi State Commissioner for Health,Dr. Yunusa Musa Ismail assured the UNICEF that the state government are commitment to partnering with them to improve the state’s health indices.
Ismail, who declared the workshop open,appreciated GAC for selecting Kebbi as one of the three states in the country to benefit from the initiative to improve the health and nutrition of women, adolescents, and children.
” We remain grateful for the initiators of this laudable programme. I assure you that we will do every thing humanly possible to support and promote healthcare service at all levels.
” Last year, 14 healthcare facilities to improve the quality of healthcare services of our people. 500 health workers recruited by the state government will be trained and retrained sustainably to ensure maximum benefits and effective service delivery, ” he said.
Ismail reaffirmed the state government’s commitment to ensuring the successful implementation of the intervention, saying that the government would develop templates to guide its implementation and execution.
The commissioner urged the participants to carefully study the plan to avoid making mistakes and ensure strict compliance of the programme’s objectives.
Mr. Martin Dohlsten, a Health Manager, UNICEF Office,Abuja, disclosed that about the programme will run for five years in three states , Bauchi, Kaduna and Kebbi states with total sum of about 10.7million US dollars.
He explained that in the course of the implementation of the programme ,they would carry media organisations along to evenly disseminate the information across the state.