The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has announced a major breakthrough in the implementation of the GAVI Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Primary Health Care (PHC) in Gombe.
The GAVI-funded programme, which kicked-off in April 2022 in Gombe State, has brought about improvements in PHC services, benefiting thousands of children and families in the arid North East State.
The programme was designed to support the implementation of the Nigerian Government Health System Strengthening (Primary Health Care MoU) Programme in Gombe and seven other States in the country, according to UNICEF.
Speaking at the handover and way forward ceremony on Friday – earlier today, February 14 – in Gombe, the Gombe State capital, the Chief of UNICEF’s Bauchi Field Office (BOF), Dr Nuzhat Rafique, disclosed that the GAVI-PHC MoU focuses on strengthening immunization systems, improving vaccine coverage, and enhancing overall health service delivery in underserved communities, adding that through the collaboration, Gombe has seen an increase in vaccination rates, leading to better protection against preventable diseases.
Revealing the successes recorded by the programme, the BFO said “440 trained health workers were recruited and distributed to PHC facilities across the 114 wards, ensuring availability of at least two skilled health workers to support maternal and newborn services.”
Similarly, the partnership led to the enrollment of 24,874 vulnerable women and children under the health insurance scheme in the four priority zero dose LGAs, Rafigue stressed, noting that the “percentage of pregnant women supported at birth by a skilled health worker increased from 21.1 to 37.9 percent, between 2018 and 2024 (80% increase).”
“Percentage of women with postnatal check during the first two days after birth increased from 25.1 to 44.9 percent between 2018 and 2024 (79% increase),” the Gombe UNICEF chief enthused.
Commenting on the handover and sustainability of the successes, Dr. Rafique said: “This is a transition and handover exercise to state authorities. The MoU programme supported the development of the 2025 Gombe State health sector Annual Operational Plan as the instrument for sustainability of the MoU programme.”
