Kaduna State Governor Senator Uba Sani has assured that the state government has set plans in motion to tackle malnutrition, infant and maternal mortality in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Speaking with a delegation from the United Nations International Children Fund (UNICEF) during a courtesy visit to Sir Kashim Ibrahim House Kaduna, Governor
Sani thanked the delegation for their condolences conveyed to the people of Kaduna state over the drone bomb mishap at Tudun Biri Community, Igabi Local Government Area.
Governor Uba Sani also lauded UNICEF for several of their proactive interventions especially in the area of healthcare and in the efforts to eradicate maternal and child mortality rates, infectious diseases, and improve routine immunization across the state.
The Governor in his remarks, reiterated the state government’s commitment to partner with UNICEF, to overcome all identified challenges and save lives of the vulnerable and underserved especially in its rural communities.
“Kaduna State under my leadership recognizes primary health care as key because accessible healthcare is very important. Recently while deliberating on the budget, we were able to commit a lot of money into the provision of healthcare in our state as only a healthy society can achieve sustainable development”, the Governor remarked.
Additionally, it was also announced during the meeting, that in the next one year, the issue of malnutrition would be a thing of the past as the State Government will rely on the expertise of the Deputy Governor Dr Hadiza Balarabe and Secretary to the State Government Dr Abdulkadir Mayere, who are both seasoned public health experts.
On the quagmire of out-of-school children, the Governor said “We have our data and statistics, if we do not eradicate poverty or reduce the level of poverty in our rural areas; we can never truly address the issue of out-of-school children because here in Kaduna primary and secondary school education is free.”
Speaking on behalf of UNICEF, the Deputy Representative of UNICEF Nigeria, Rownak Khan stated that “more than half of the children born in the state do not receive birth certificates, which hampers the process of immunization. Furthermore, she expressed concern about the significant rate of malnutrition among children, affecting approximately 60% of the population.”
Khan however expressed optimism with the political will and assurances given by Governor Uba Sani to work closely with UNICEF in achieving its goals across all 23 Local Government Areas of the state.
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