The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has handed over the renovated and expanded DISO Primary Healthcare Center (PHC) in Gwale Local Government Area of Kano State to the State Primary Healthcare Management Board (SPHCMB).
The intervention is part of the efforts to improve health care infrastructure and to strengthen access to quality primary health care services in the state.
Speaking during the handover ceremony, Shafeeq Ur-Rehman, UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Kano, urged residents and community leaders to take ownership of the facility and ensure its proper maintenance.
“The sustainability of this facility is very much dependent on the ownership and commitment of the community,” he said. We encourage community leaders and residents to safeguard this investment and to ensure it continues to serve both the present and future generations.”
Ur-Rehman also urged relevant stakeholders to ensure that the facility was adequately staffed with skilled health workers and consistently supplied with medicines, vaccines and other essential commodities.
“We need the right health workers, medicines and vaccines to be available on a regular basis and ongoing oversight of service delivery,” he said. These are vital to ensuring that this investment translates into better health outcomes.”
Stronger community engagement would help preserve the facility and improve the quality and sustainability of primary healthcare services, the UNICEF official said.
“When government, development partners and communities work together toward a common goal, we can achieve meaningful and lasting effects in healthcare delivery,” he said.
Ur-Rehman recognized the contribution of the Global Fund to strengthening health infrastructure and service delivery, while reaffirming UNICEF’s commitment to support Kano State to improve the health and well-being of children, women and families.
The DISO PHC is one of five health facilities that have been renovated under a Global Fund supported program implemented by UNICEF.
The revamped facility now boasts of an expanded delivery room, laboratory, consultation room, nurses’ station, male and female wards, and separate male and female toilets that are designed to accommodate persons with disabilities.
The Board’s Director of Administration, Adamu Fate, who spoke on behalf of the Director-General of the SPHCMB, Prof. Salisu Ibrahim, commended UNICEF for the intervention.
“We sincerely appreciate UNICEF and its partners for this important intervention,” said Fate. “Renovation of DISO PHC will greatly contribute toward improving the quality of primary healthcare services available to the people.”
He said similar interventions across the state would strengthen the healthcare infrastructure and improve service delivery at the grassroots.
Ahmed Bello, Ward Head of DISO Ward, also spoke and assured UNICEF and other partners that the community would protect and maintain the facility.
“The community appreciated the intervention and will take responsibility for protecting the facility so that the health center remains functional and continues to deliver quality healthcare services,” said Bello.
