Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has been commended by co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Melinda Gates, for his leadership in improving child health.
Mrs Gates gave this assessment when she visited Kaduna on Wednesday, lauding the state’s drive to improve the range and credibility of data collection.
Hear her: “Your commitment to data collection is really admirable. You can’t make decisions without data. We are pleased to help you with that”.
She assured the governor that the Gates Foundation has a joint interest with the Kaduna State Government to reduce infant mortality.
Assessing the progress on routine immunisation, Mrs. Gates said the BMGF is impressed by the scale of the polio surveillance mounted by the Kaduna State Government.
Speaking further on the healthcare segment of the partnership between her foundation and Kaduna State, Mrs. Gates said that the primary health centres will continue to be supported so that they can offer a broad range of services to patients.
She also promised that the BMGF will invest more in agriculture and in promoting access to financial services.
El-Rufai expressed gratitude to the Gates Foundation for supporting Kaduna State. He proposed that the partnership between the foundation and the state should be strengthened by making it to better cohere with the state’s priorities.
These include maternal and child health, child spacing and nutrition. He further suggested that the BMGF should support the state’s data revolution, its state residency identification system and efforts to promote security and justice, and to address the root causes of poverty and development.
The governor noted that Mrs. Gates’ direct flight to Kaduna Airport is a welcome endorsement. He added that Kaduna State looks forward to strengthening the relationship between the two partners.
BMGF is a private foundation founded by the richest man in the world, Bill Gates, and his wife, Melinda Gates.
It was launched in 2000 and is said to be the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world.
