JUST IN: Kaduna govt proposes N165m for child spacing in 2019….As NURHI facilitates budget monitoring training for stakeholders
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NIGERIA –
Kaduna State government is proposing N165 million in its year 2019 budget for the purchase of reproductive health/child spacing commodities and consumables.
The State government, being the first state in Nigeria to earmarked N100 million for this service in 2017 and N75 million in 2018, is proposing N165 million in 2019 to reduce high maternal and child mortality rate in the state.
Kaduna State Repductive Health/Family Planning Coordinator, Hajiya Nafisa Isa Musa, stated this during the opening session of a 2-day step-down training on child spacing budget monitoring, analysis and scorecard system for stakeholders organised by Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI2) in Kaduna on Wednesday.
Researches by National Health Demographic Survey (NHDS 2013) and other development partners had revealed that, effective child or pregnancy spacing alone can reduce death of pregnant women and infants in Sub-Sahara Africa by 30 percent.
There has been concerted efforts by Kaduna State government under Governor Nasir El-Rufai vis-à-vis other development partners like NURHI and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to transform the health sector in the state as evident in ongoing renovation of 255 primary healthcare centres across the state, recruitment of 800 additional frontline health workers and digital medical supply geared towards improved healthcare delivery for the people resident in the state.
Earlier in an address, Team Leader of NURHI in Kaduna State, Dr. Kabir Abdullahi, called on more women especially those that just attaining reductive age and those at grassroots to make demand for child spacing services at approved public health facilities around them.
According to Dr. Abdullahi, once a budget is clear enough, the next line is to track whether the implementing indices are there or not in order to hold government accountable base on its plans for its citizens.
“We need more women to access child spacing service. We have the commodities and consumables at public facilities that render the serve free of charge
“The most important thing for us at NURHI is to understand better the budget and how it can help improve our budgeting processes as well as tracking better the elements that will help us to do that”, he added.
He then urged the participants to pay attention to every detail that would guide them in tracking child spacing budget in the state with the hope of having effective accountability, transparency and value for money.
In a remark, Communication Officer, Family Health Advocates in Nigeria Initiative (FHANI) and Coordinator, Advocacy Nigeria, Hajiya Hauwa Saulawa thanked the civil society and the media that pressurised the state government for the recently released N100 million for the purchase of child spacing commodities and consumables, urging them to do more for the sake of families in the state.
The State government is however planning to present its 2019 budget to State’s Assembly in June being the last for the current assembly.
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