Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir, has declared that the importance of the “Optimising Adherence to Maternal Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation” (MMS) project is underscored by the fact that it is being implemented by the Bauchi State Government in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and Nutrition International with funding provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The governor was speaking at the formal launch of the project held at the Banquet Hall of the Government House on Thursday, saying that it aims to assist the state government in better understanding how to improve adherence to and utilisation of multiple micronutrient supplements among pregnant women.
Represented by the SSG, Barr Ibrahim Mohammed Kashim, he added that it will ultimately elevate and advance maternal nutrition in Bauchi State and the country at large.
According to him, the project will not only provide multiple micronutrient supplements to 45,000 pregnant women across Giade, Ganjuwa, and Dass local government areas but will also support an improvement in pregnancy outcomes and antenatal care services across 84 public health facilities.
Bala Mohammed further said that the project is coming at the right time when my administration is making efforts to improve the health and well-being of the citizens.
“Since coming into power in 2019, we have constructed and fully equipped over 50 primary health care centres (PHCCs) across the state. We have also renovated and upgraded over 200 existing PHCCs,” he explained.
According to him, “This is in addition to the construction and equipping of two new general hospitals and the renovation of 12 general hospitals. More than 300 PHCCs have been provided with a seed stock to run the Drug Revolving Fund (DRF) to ensure sustainable, affordable, and quality essential drugs and medical consumables.”
In the area of human resources for the health sector, the governor said that we have recruited more than 1,000 health workers to man our health centres. We have also re-introduced a pre-service scheme to support our students studying different health-related courses, with the hope that they will come back after graduation to work in Bauchi State.”
He stressed that my government is also presently reviewing the take-home salary and allowances of our health workers to motivate and retain them.”
The Governor also stated that “furthermore, the state government under my leadership will remain committed to the Abuja declaration by allocating 15% and above of the total state annual budget to the health sector.”
“I also wish to reiterate my commitment to fulfilling all the government’s obligations in the health sector and the payment of counterpart funds. including Primary Health Care Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) contributions and non-MOU counterpart funds,” he added.
The governor added that the Bauchi State Government will continue to give the health sector all priority resources and support as the health of the state indigenous peoples remains a cardinal point of my administration.”
Bala Mohammed thanked Nutrition International, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and all development partners for their various support and collaboration to improve the health sector, especially on the MMS Implementation Research Project.
“I wish to use this medium to reassure you all of my administration’s commitment to continue to provide a conducive environment to implement your projects and programmes in Bauchi State,” he added.
The governor used the opportunity to thank the good people of Bauchi State for their continuous trust in him and his administration in improving the health indices in the state.
The governor then formally launched the Maternal Supplementation Multiple Micronutrient Research Project in Bauchi State, describing it as a laudable project.
