The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has called on the Kano State government to invest more in expanding the healthcare workforce, especially in rural areas, to ensure that communities have access to round-the-clock medical services.
Rahama Farah, the Chief of UNICEF Field Office in Kano made the call at the flag-off of the 2025 1st Round Maternal and Newborn Child Health Week held at Birji Primary Health Centre, Madobi LGA, on Tuesday.
Farah commended Kano State for showing commitment in health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) through consistent funding and service delivery.
“Kano State has continued to demonstrate exemplary leadership. But there is still a need to invest in expanding healthcare workforce capacity to enable round-the-clock service delivery in underserved rural communities.”
He explained that with over 17 million people, including 3.5 million children under five and around 900,000 pregnant women, Kano plays major role in improving child and maternal health in Nigeria.
He explained that holding two rounds of the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Week (MNCHW) is important because it helps provide children with Vitamin A supplements, deworming medicine, malaria prevention, and vaccines. It also gives pregnant women multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS) to support their health.
UNICEF also revealed that about 51.9 percent of children in Kano are stunted, while over 10 percent are wasted or too thin for their height due to poor nutrition.
Farah also urged the government to allocate more resources in 2025 for nutrition and health.
“Conduct the second round of MNCH Week by December, procure enough deworming tablets for all children between 12-59 months and consider increasing the number of days for paid maternity leave to support exclusive breastfeeding,” he said.
To support the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Week, UNICEF said it has provided enough Vitamin A supplements and multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS) to reach over 2.6 million children and about 500,000 pregnant women across the state.
He added that UNICEF will continue to partner with the Kano State Government to improve the health and nutrition of women and children across the state.
Deputy Governor, Comrade Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo, representing Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, said the health week will provide key services like child immunizations, Vitamin A supplements, mosquito nets for pregnant women, deworming, antenatal care, and birth registration in all 44 local government areas.
He also announced the commencement of seasonal malaria chemotherapy and distribution of insecticide-treated nets, supported by ₦140 million allocated by the state government for warehousing the nets.
“The state is giving out 6,000 delivery packs and 500 caesarean section kits to health centers to help ensure safe childbirth. We are also providing 25,000 to 30,000 doses of antenatal care drugs every month to protect pregnant women from anemia and malaria,” Gwarzo added.
