The Acting Governor of Kaduna state, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, has disclosed that the investments which the Malam Nasir El-Rufai administration has consistently made in the health sector in the last seven years have started bearing fruits.
Dr Balarabe noted that those efforts earned it the award of best performing state in the area of routine immunization in the Northwest zone, by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency.
She pointed out that the investment would advance the effort of the state government towards attaining sustainable health in Kaduna state and meeting the Sustainable Development Goal III on Good Health and Well-being.
The Acting Governor stated this at the closing of the dissemination meeting on Kaduna State Primary Health Care Management Capacity Strengthening Project (KPMSP).
According to her, the project is part of Kaduna State Government’s investment in the PHC sub-sector, which is aimed at improving the managerial skills and competencies of officers in charge of health facilities.
“Since the inception of the Nasir El-Rufai led administration in 2015, it has paid attention to the development of Primary Health Care as part of the cultivation of the human capital of the state. We have therefore made significant investments in the PHC sub-sector.
“We have renovated 255 Primary Healthcare Centers and equipped them to working standards, with procurements worth N3.5 billion. We also employed 1,205 trained PHC workers to improve healthcare delivery across the state.
“In 2016, the state government signed an MoU with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Aliko Dangote Foundation, UNICEF, WHO and many other partners so as to strengthen routine immunization in Kaduna state,’’ she added.
While commending the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the funding, and other partners that supported the KPMSP project, the Acting Governor thanked the State Primary Health Care Development Agency and their counterparts at the local government levels for the remarkable improvement in routine immunization.