The Sokoto State government has assured of increased collaboration with UNICEF on mobilising rural women to access healthcare services.
Special adviser to Gov. Ahmad Aliyu on Primary Healthcare Delivery, Alhaji Garba Manager, gave the assurance when he launched the 2024 maternal, newborn and child health week yesterday in Sokoto.
Manager said the government would continue to work with UNICEF and other agencies on reversing the ugly trend of maternal mortality rates, improving children’s health and healthcare delivery in the state.
He explained that the present administration had accorded priority to healthcare services as the sector was part of the nine-point agenda of Aliyu.
According to him, the state government ensured high budgetary allocations and recruitment of qualify healthcare professionals, supply of drugs, consumables and revitalization of healthcare infrastructures across the state.
In her address, Dr Larai Tambuwal, the Executive Secretary of Sokoto State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (SSPHCDA), described the week as a campaign for the emancipation of women and children.
Tambuwal said drugs and other consumables were provided to be administered to targeted persons at the designated places earmarked for the exercise as well as house to house.
She said that the programme would help to strengthen initiatives focused on improving the health of women and children.
Tambuwal described the basic health interventions provided for women and children as a step in the right direction.
She said: “Maternal and child deaths have remained on the increase lately and annoyingly these deaths are preventable, if we all work together.
“Mortality from any preventable cause is a violation of the individual’s basic human right and must be stopped.”
Dr Shamina Sharmine, the Chief of Health, UNICEF Sokoto Field Office, said that the programme would enhance the provision of high impact and cost-effective interventions to women and children in the state.
Sharmine expressed delight over the introduction of maternal, newborn and child health week and urged women to utilize the opportunity for themselves and their children.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the interventions to be provided during the programme include vitamin supplementation, deworming, screening of children for malnutrition and immunisation, amongst others.(NAN)
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