The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has commended the Niger State Government for judiciously utilizing 6 million dollars within three years to strengthen primary health care system with the registration of over 400,000 births in 2024 exceeding the 10 Percent target.
Dr. Ibrahim Sesay, Chief of Child Protection UNICEF gave the commendation at the close of a Memorandum of Understanding between Niger State Government in collaboration with Global Alliance Initiative GAVI and UNICEF aimed at strengthening and improving healthcare services at the Niger Governor’s Lodge in Abuja.
Dr. Sesay said UNICEF was ready to forge ahead with the collaboration which is initially scheduled to end by March 2025 in order to better the health of the people of Niger State which according to him, is part of the renewed hope agenda of the President Tinubu administration
The UNICEF executive added that the organization would integrate services to issue national identification numbers to registered children to enable the tracking of those yet to receive immunization and identify gaps in the system.
Earlier, Governor Mohammed Umar Bago expressed profound gratitude to the partners for supporting the state’s primary healthcare system which received seed money of about 6 million dollars matched with an additional 1 million dollars by the State Government.
He said the partnership had achieved significant milestone, including the recruitment of 1,500 new health staff, retention of 400 health staff and procurement of medical equipment as well as provision and access to quality health services for vulnerable persons
Governor Bago stressed on the state’s intention to launch a drone machine delivery project in the next 6 months to access hard-to-reach areas, leveraging on technology to bridge the gaps