By Suzan Edeh, Bauchi
UNICEF and the Bauchi State Government have commenced the implementation of the Global Affairs Canada Initiative to improve the health and nutrition status of women, adolescents and children in the state.
Recall that UNICEF had received a 15 million (Canadian) dollars grant from Global Affairs Canada, to improve maternal and child health in Kebbi, Kaduna and Bauchi States.
Global Affairs Canada is providing the funding for the government of Nigeria, specifically in the three target states and channeling the money through UNICEF to provide technical support for the implementation of the high impact intervention.
The UNICEF Health Specialist Abuja Office, Dr Fatima Cheshi who stated this at the opening of a two-day state engagement meeting in Bauchi, said that the whole idea for the initiative is to support Bauchi state to build capacity across service delivery and coordination platforms for sexual reproductive health among adolescent girls which is a group of the population that has suffered neglect.
She said that the objectives of the engagement meeting is to identify strategic alignment with other ongoing initiatives and strategy for the project, engage with the state and develop work plans for 2025 as well as agree on M&E framework and supply plan.
According to her, what is expected new in the initiative is the focus on the adolescent population who are less prioritized group in the three states .
“The adolescence group have been known to contribute largely to the maternity figures in Nigeria as a whole and specifically in Bauchi state that has been identified for this support and the hope is that this intervention and support would help to breach that gap for the adolescence population”
“Many times there are initiatives that provides for the newborn, under 5 children and then we forget the people until the appear in the hospital pregnant either as adults or adolescents.The reality is that the adolescent group is neglected and there are no clear programs to support that group, so this initiative is going to help provide access to service delivery for the adolescents”
“The key stakeholders in the implementation of the initiative is the governments of the three states, that is the government structure that already exist, the health system in the three states is going to be the platform for the implementation of the initiative.So we are hoping that we are going to leverage on the existing platforms for the delivery of the high impact gender responsive interventions”
“The platforms will range from the facilities such as the Primary healthcare facilities, some secondary healthcare facilities and the communities.Coordinating platforms for the Reproductive maternal Newborn and Child Health services will also be platforms that would be leveraged upon” She said
The health specialist said that the grant aligned with Nigeria’s Sector Wide Approach Programming (SWAP) focusing on improving maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes.
In his remarks at the engagement meeting, the State Commissioner of Health, Dr Sani Mohammed Dambam commended UNICEF and Global Affairs Canada for the intervention which he noted was timely for the state, particularly in improving the health of adolescent girls and Children under the age of 5.
He reiterated the commitment of the state government in ensuring the successful implementation of the intervention in the state, saying that the government will come up with templates that will guide the state in the implementation.
He disclosed that Bauchi state government has prioritized healthcare in the state approving the payment of N872 million to the state’s counterpart funding for the Primary Healthcare Basket for the 2025 fiscal year.