Routine Immunisation: Dangote Foundation, Kano, UNICEF, Billgate Renew MoU

Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano

The Aliko Dangote Foundation, in collaboration with Kano State Government, UNICEF and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on routine immunisation (RI) in the state.

The MoU was first signed in 2012, when Aliko Dangote Foundation, Kano State Government and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation decided to work towards improvement of health of women and children in Kano, second most populous state in the country.

Appraising the success of the first MoU, the three parties also signed a second addendum in 2017, in a bid to improve on the goal earlier achieved.

However, the third Health MoU signing, this time around, witnessed the involvement of UNICEF as the fourth participating party in the agreement.

Speaking shortly before the official signing at Kano, yesterday, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Aliko Dangote Foundation, Zouera Yousefou, congratulated the Kano State government for achieving the objectives of the addendum ll.

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 said with the signing of the third addendum, it was important to note that while the parties have made a lot of progress together, they remained far from achieving the target maternal and child health outcomes.

“We need to ensure that we use the lessons learnt 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 of 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

Yousefou also urged traditional rulers to ensure the people utilize essential health services, including immunisation, nutrition and maternal and reproductive health services.

The MD/CEO applauded efforts of the Kano State government and encouraged the administration to continue to improve its performance by ensuring timely release of funds for both RI and PHC activities.

She restates the commitment of the Aliko Dangote Foundation in supporting Kano in ensuring all residents live long and healthy lives.

In his remarks, the Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, said the state had achieved significant milestones in healthcare services to the citizenry.

Ganduje noted that signing of the health MoU addendum lll was a testimony to the commitment of the state towards improvement of healthcare services.

Speaking earlier, the Country Director, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Jeremie Zoungrana expressed delight to witness the signing of the MoU.

He said the event was the perfect opportunity to implement new and advanced programmes in the area of RI, noting that Kano state had the potential to do better in that regard.

It was gathered that each party would be contributing N185 million annually for the five-year duration of the programme.