Experts seek inclusion of family, child health in Kano action plan

Stakeholders in government and civil society sectors on Thursday met in Abuja to strategise on the inclusion of women and children health in the Kano State action plan.

They converged at a retreat for the Kano  State Open Government Partnership (OGP) organised by the development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC) in partnership with the Women in Media (WIM) under the Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health At Scale, PACFaH@Scale.

Co-Chair of the Kano Open Government Partnership (OGP), Hajiya Halima Ben Umar, said the stakeholders observed that there were no specific activities that targeted the health of women and children in the state action.

She said the whole concept of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) is inclusion of all stakeholders adding that there was need to bridge the gaps and include women and children’s health, people living with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.

She said the retreat was organized to examine the operationalization of the OGP action plan which aims to bring solutions to social challenges in the state.

Hajiya Umar said the relationship between Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the PAS project of the Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health At Scale, PACFaH@Scale was a welcome development that would improve the social accountability framework and public engagement in Kano State.

“We want to look at the state action plan again and fill the gaps. We have identified about 24 health issues and want to concentrate on the  reproductive health of women. We also want to look at routine immunization and killer diseases that affect women and children,” she said.

Statistics by the National Demographics and Health Survey (NDHS, 2013) and Maternal, Newborn and Child Health 2017 for Kano state, indicate a high child and family health burden for children under-five and women of reproductive age in particular.

The Development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC) said it provided support for the retreat as part of efforts to hold government accountable to its promises through enhanced inclusiveness, transparency and accountability in governance.

“The Kano state OGP retreat, which aims to find solutions be-devilling the various sectors of governance in the state, and especially in the health sector, is geared towards developing an implementation plan for the realization of the goals of the Kano state action plan of the Open Government Partnership (OGP),” dRPC said in the statement.