Misau Local Government Area of Bauchi has engaged 160 men as members of a volunteer support group to promote and boost access to healthcare services delivery in the area.
The men operate under the Father for Good Health (F4H) initiative, a programme supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Bauchi Field Office.
The Fathers For Good Health Initiative seeks to leverage fathers’ influence within their communities to encourage wider acceptance and uptake of vaccines and other essential healthcare services.
As the 2025 Father’s Day was marked recently, the positive impact of Father4Health has been commended by the various communities that have benefited from the initiative in the past 10 months.
The beneficiaries are full of praise to UNICEF for supporting the initiative which focuses on engaging fathers in promoting positive health-seeking behaviors, particularly regarding mother and child health, from conception to safe delivery at a health facility while immunization is not left out.
In Misau LGA, the various communities and beneficiaries of the impactful activities of the Father4Health Support Group commemorated Father’s Day by commending the initiative calling for more volunteers.
The UNICEF Bauchi Field Office led a team of Journalists on a field visit to the LGA where the Father4Health support group is performing excellently well in promoting the healthcare services delivery system, particularly in the areas of maternal, newborn, and child health.
The team of Journalists interacted with members of the Fathers for Good Health, including a female supporter of the group who is a member of the Volunteer Community Mobilizer (VCM), Aishatu Isa.
Nura Aliyu, a father of two and a member of the Father’s group in Misau shared about how things were before the initiative began.
He said that before the coming of the initiative, there was a lot of resistance to polio immunization, low attendance of antenatal sessions by pregnant women, and home deliveries which sometimes result in health complications.
According to him, “Thanks to the Fathers for Good health Initiative, people now recognized the importance of going to the hospital, particularly pregnant women, even our malnourished children have recovered.
He stressed that, “Before now, there was a lot of resistance to immunization, most households were against immunizing their Newborns and many of the pregnant women were not educated on attending antenatal and giving birth in a health facility.”
“All these issues have changed and people are now exhibiting positive health attitudes,” he said
Another member of the group, Ibrahim Mohammed said that members of the group usually engaged in sensitization of fathers in the communities on the importance of improving the health of their families by allowing their children to be immunized.
He also stated that the group is engaged in ensuring that pregnant women attend antenatal care and give birth at the facilities, adding that their efforts have yielded positive results.
Hajiya Aisha Yusuf, a supporter of the group said that as a woman volunteer, she usually comes in where the Fathers cannot go due to religious and cultural barriers.
According to her, “We are working together to ensure that access to healthcare services is brought closer to the people particularly those in rural areas. We engage in education and advocacy.”
She disclosed that the situation has improved positively across the local government as people have accepted the activities of the support group and ensure that their women and children access skilled healthcare services across the facilities.
Turaki Goje is one of the beneficiaries of the activities of the support group who has now become a champion of access to quality healthcare service delivery in the local government.
According to him, “I have 20 children aside from grandchildren, I was one of the opposition to immunization of children because I grew up without receiving any form of immunization and I am still alive today.”
He added, “But members of the Father4Health support team visited my house at different times. I drove them back each time until one day I decided to listen to them to receive their messages.”
“After listening carefully to them, I was convinced about the message and I immediately allowed all my children who are within the immunization ages to receive such. Today, I have healthy children and grandchildren in my family,” he stressed.
Turaki Goje commended UNICEF for the initiative and commended Misau LGC Chairman for accepting to key into the programme which has impacted positively.