Aliko Dangote Foundation has penned a memorandum of understanding with Kano State Government and others on routine immunisation (RI).
Other partners in the agreement are the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The MoU was first signed in 2012, when the Dangote Foundation, Kano State Government and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation decided to work towards the improvement of health of women and children in Kano.
After appraising the success of the first MoU, the three parties signed a second addendum in 2017 in a bid to improve on the goals earlier achieved.
However, the third Health MoU signing, this time around, has witnessed the involvement of UNICEF as the fourth participant in the agreement.
Shortly before the official signing of the MoU on Wednesday, at the Kano State Government House, the managing director and chief executive officer of Aliko Dangote Foundation, Zouera Yousefou, congratulated Kano State Government for achieving the objectives of the addendum ll.
Mrs Yousefou commended the state government for its efforts to sustain funding for all RI activities, thereby increasing the state’s RI budget by 22 percent over the past 6 years, despite challenges to the fiscal space.
The MD/CEO noted that while the parties have made a lot of progress together, they remain far from achieving the target on maternal and child health outcomes.
“We need to ensure that we use the lessons learned from the prior years to develop and effectively execute better-suited strategies that ensure we fast-track progress and ultimately achieve the Health MoU addendum lll’s targets.
“One such area of improvement is the need to devolve the programme’s oversight to lower levels and ensure LGA health teams are responsible for driving implementation across the wards in their LGA.
“We need to ensure that our health teams at LGA and Ward levels have the autonomy and resources they need to deliver within their specific contexts while holding them accountable for the results,” she said.
Mrs Yousefou also urged traditional rulers to remain tireless in their efforts to ensure the people utilise essential health services, including immunisation, nutrition and maternal and reproductive health services.
