The Resource Center for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has concluded its phase one project on strengthening the maternal and child health care delivery systems in Kano.
The project, which was launched in May 2021 and funded by MISEREOR, was tagged ‘Promotion of democratic participation in two local government areas of Kano State’ and focuses on advocacy on maternal, neonatal, and child health-related issues through accountability interventions.
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Addressing journalists on Tuesday, Comrade. Ibrahim Zikirullahi said that maternal and child health issues are of great concern to everybody, especially in Kano, where there’s a high rate of maternal, neonatal, and child mortality.
Zikirullahi said the CHRICED intervention was to “facilitate a platform for the people on the demand side of the maternal health system to engage with decision makers on the supply side, ensuring that their voices are heard as citizens and their needs addressed.
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The project, which was done in two out of 44 local governments in Kano State, recorded a huge success, which involved training and capacity development of identified stakeholders of the project who are well equipped with the necessary skills by CHRICED to monitor maternal and child health budget expenditures in some PHCs in the state.
According to Mr Zikirullah, it was CHRICED’s intervention and efforts that led to the scaling up of the executive order of the former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, on free maternal and child health care, which turned out to be a law signed by his successor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
While thanking project stakeholders, partners, and media for the success recorded in this phase, Mr. Zikirullahi said that this is not the end of the project as phase two of it is about to roll out in a few months, which would spread wider.
He also said that despite recording this huge success, most importantly the passage of the Kano free maternal and child healthcare law, CHRICED is determined more than before to ensure the implementation of this law because this is where the challenges lie.
He therefore calls upon the Kano State government to demonstrate maturity, visionary thinking, and political will for the proper implementation of this needed law in Kano.
The briefing was widely attended by all the relevant stakeholders in the project, including civil society, especially government officials, the media, and traditional rulers.
