By Bashir Bello
KANO — Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State has reaffirmed the commitment of his government to ensure no pregnant woman dies during delivery, saying it is non-negotiable.
Governor Yusuf made this known while flagging off the 2025 First Round of the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Week (MNCHW) and distribution of Insecticide Treated Nets, ITNs in Birji Primary Healthcare Centre, PHC, Madobi Local Government Area of Kano.
Represented by his Deputy, Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo, the Governor said the government is not relenting in it efforts to ensure safe deliveries of the pregnant women in the state.
According to him, “Our efforts in ensuring all women carry their pregnancies to term seamlessly and deliver safely is not negotiable, today, we are distributing 6,000 delivery packs and an additional 500 C/S packages to our facilities. These we do monthly and are expanding to reach at least all Apex facilities in the state very soon. We believe this will go a long way in addressing maternal mortality, which currently stands at 937 per 100,000 live births in kano.
“We however provide 25,000 to 30,000 doses of ANC drugs to prevent anaemia and malaria in pregnancy which are known to cause significant morbidity and mortality in the state,” he said.
He added, “another important intervention is flagging off of seasonal malaria chemotherapy and distribution of insecticide treated nets for the prevention of Malaria which is a killer of children and pregnant women. Our administration supported this initiative by providing fund to warehouse the Nets to the tune N140,000,000,” Governor Yusuf said.
In his remarks, the National Coordinator, National Malaria Elimination Programme, NMEP, Dr. Nnenna Ogbulafor, encouraged Kano residents including pregnant women to ensure proper use of the insecticide treated nets distributed to them by ensuring they sleep inside the nets consistently, saying “This simple act can save lives”.
She further said that Nigeria has made significant progress in reducing malaria prevalence and under five mortality since the launch of the first ITN mass campaign in 2009 and administration for Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention, SMC in 2013.
Earlier, the Kano Chief of Field Office, United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, Rahama Farah commended the Kano State Government under Governor Abba Yusuf for its continued investment in healthcare delivery, especially for vulnerable groups.
Farah reiterated the commitment of the fund to continue to partner with Kano state government to implement programmes that improve health and nutrition situation of women and children in the State.
“Kano State has continued to demonstrate exemplary leadership in the areas of Health, Nutrition and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) through consistent funds release, quality service delivery and strong enabling environment. With a population of over 17 million people and approximately 3.5 million under-5 children; and 900,000 pregnant women, Kano is strategically important in all issues of children and women rights.
“Therefore, the implementation of two rounds of MNCHW in Kano State for provision of Vitamin A supplementation, Deworming, Anti-Malaria and Immunization to children as well as Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation (MMS) to pregnant women will ensure a healthy populace among the target groups.
“In continuing support to the Kano State Government, UNICEF has also provided adequate quantities of Vitamin A supplements and MMS for the first round of Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Week to reach over 2.6 million children 6-59 months and about 500,000 pregnant women, representing 80% of the target populations, respectively.
“UNICEF will continue to partner with Kano state and work across key sectors to improve nutrition and health outcomes in Kano state specially targeting women and children,” Farah said.
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