In a renewed push to save the lives of women and children, five North-West states have committed to scaling up community-level health interventions aimed at reducing maternal and child mortality across their most vulnerable communities.
The commitment was made at the Integrated Child Survival Advocacy at the Last Mile (ICSA) Project National Strategic Alignment Meeting with State Leadership, held in Abuja, where government officials, civil society organisations and development partners agreed on urgent actions to improve child survival outcomes.
The meeting brought together Commissioners for Health and Local Government, heads of State Primary Health Care Development Agencies, federal health officials and civil society leaders to align on policies, financing and accountability measures needed to strengthen healthcare delivery at the local government level.
Through the ICSA project, civil society organisations — the Centre for Wellbeing and Integrated Nutrition Solutions (CWINS), NANA Girls and Women Empowerment Initiative, and the Civil Society in Malaria Control, Immunization and Nutrition (ACOMIN) — secured commitments from Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi and Sokoto states to improve vaccination coverage, healthcare access, malaria prevention and nutrition services. Osun State will serve as a learning comparator.
Participants noted that despite the existence of multiple maternal and child health policies, many communities still lack access to essential services, leaving women and children exposed to preventable illnesses and deaths.
Speaking at the meeting, CWINS Head of Mission, Dr Mahmoud Mustafa Zuberu, said the project places strong emphasis on advocacy and community engagement, stressing that real change happens when services reach the people and communities demand accountability.
“This project is about ensuring child survival becomes a priority not only in policy documents but in communities. Vaccines and medicines alone are not enough if there is no commitment to deliver them and no demand from the people,” he said.
Project Lead, Ms Nihinlola Mabobunje, explained that community accountability teams would be set up to track government commitments and ensure funds allocated for child health are used appropriately, while advocating for stronger financing for primary healthcare, immunisation, malaria prevention and nutrition services.
State officials welcomed the initiative, with Sokoto State Commissioner for Health, Dr Farouk Umar Abubakar, describing it as timely in view of the state’s high maternal and infant mortality rates.
He disclosed that Sokoto has begun recruiting nurses and midwives, strengthening rural healthcare facilities and enforcing compulsory rural postings for state-sponsored health workers.
Federal Ministry of Health officials noted that the initiative aligns with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope health agenda, stressing that coordinated action across federal, state and local governments, targeted interventions and community-driven accountability are critical to achieving Universal Health Coverage and reducing preventable deaths by 2030.
Reporting by Annabel Nwachukwu