A total of 1,626,825 children have received vitamin A supplementation in Bauchi State through a partnership between Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The Chief of Field, UNICEF Bauchi Field Office, Dr Nuzhat Rafique, disclosed this during a stakeholders’ meeting held on Wednesday at the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), Bauchi, as part of the working visit of Global Affairs Canada.
Represented by Dr Ado, UNICEF also highlighted its support for emergency preparedness, particularly in strengthening the state’s capacity to respond to public health emergencies such as cholera, vaccine-preventable diseases and Ebola.
Rafique stressed that effective community engagement, adequate planning and a strengthened health system remained essential to achieving sustainable health outcomes.
The UNICEF Chief of Field expressed appreciation to Global Affairs Canada, the Bauchi State Government and other development partners for their continued collaboration, while wishing the visiting delegation a successful two-day working visit.
Speaking on the achievements recorded through the partnership, she said, “Looking at the achievements that we have so far recorded in terms of our engagement with Global Affairs Canada and also to look at our partnership and also the engagement with Bauchi State Government so that we know where we are, what needs to be done”
Rafique added, “Then in terms of the outcome, so I would like to look at the achievements so far recorded in terms of gender equality and women’s participation in health decision-making. This is an area that we are supporting the state government through the Mama2Mama Support Group.”
She said that, “So, this is a support group that we have them at the communities, and they are the agents for change. And from the engagement with Global Affairs Canada, we have so far reached 6,460 women, who are really seeing the effective change in the communities.”
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“Then moving to the health system in terms of strengthening governance and leadership and health and nutrition because health and nutrition is something that we are working together on. So through the engagement with the Bauchi State Government, we were able to mobilize N350m in funding from the local and the state government for nutrition commodities in 2025. This is a very good achievement for Bauchi State in collaboration with UNICEF” she added.
She further said, “Then at the same time also to look at building the capacity of health workforce. Because whatever we are recording in terms of achievement, if we don’t have a very good workforce in terms of the health personnel, we cannot achieve.”
She added that, “So, this is an area where we are supporting the state government so that we can build the capacity of health logistic management information system and DHIS2 because whatever we are doing, we need to see our data. We need to see what we have so far achieved. So we are building the capacity of state government in terms of logistic health system and in terms of demographic health information system.”
On child nutrition interventions, the UNICEF Chief said, “Then expanding access to child nutrition intervention. In terms of, this is where we are supporting the state through the vitamin A supplementation. And we have so far recorded the children that we have reached aged from six to 23 months around 1,626, 825 children that we have so far reached with vitamin A supplementation.”
According to her, ” Then investing in adolescent and young people health. This is the programme that we are supporting the adolescent and young people’s health club. So in Bauchi across the 11 LGAs, we have so far established 102 adolescent and young people’s health clubs. So this is something that we need to celebrate all together through partnership with UNICEF, Global Affairs Canada, Bauchi State Government and all the partners that are here.”
She also highlighted the partnership’s interventions in education, nutrition-sensitive agriculture and climate-smart livelihoods, particularly programmes supporting adolescent girls in schools.
” Then in terms of collaboration, so through this programme, we are collaborating with education as well, because we are supporting the nutrition sensitive agriculture and climate smart livelihood. This is the area where we are supporting the adolescent girls in school. And it is something that we need to celebrate together.”
Rafique said the GAC delegation would also visit project locations to assess the interventions and interact with beneficiaries.
“So, this is so far in terms of the achievement that we have so far achieved with Global Affairs Canada. And I know this visit, it is not going to end here. We are going to the field to see what is happening, to see the reality, to discuss with the beneficiaries and also to engage and to see the reality of what had happened across all the sites that we are going to visit.”
Highlighting UNICEF’s wider engagement with the Bauchi State Government, she said, “Then in terms of UNICEF’s presence and engagement, UNICEF is a very good partner with Bauchi State Government because in an area of leadership, governance and coordination, we are very good. In fact, we are supporting the state in terms of having effective coordination so that we can achieve the health system,” She added.
According to her, “Then in terms of equitable access to quality services, we are supporting to reduce the deliveries and also to help so that the state can have a zero enlightened so that we have a child that has been fully immunized.”
On gender equality and women’s empowerment, she said, “Then in terms of advancing gender equality and women empowerment, which I believe this is the mission and also one of the mission of Global Affairs Canada. So in terms of UNICEF presence, we are very good in doing that because in terms of gender mainstreaming, because we are mainstreaming all our program to be a gender equality,” She added.
She also said, “Then in terms of mobilizing domestic resources, like I made mention, through partnership with the Bauchi State Government and also nutrition, we were able to secure the release of N350 million to support the 2025 RUTF. Then in terms of improving sanitation and hygiene, we are supporting the state across all the communities and local government so that we can have a free open defecation. That is the ODF. So we are doing that.”
The UNICEF Chief added, “Then in terms of community partnership, we are supporting the state to have a very effective world development committees and also mama to mama support group. And at the same time to see all the community engagement because the health system cannot be achieved unless we improve the demand aspect. The demand aspect to see how we can engage with the community people.”
She further highlighted UNICEF’s support for the state’s emergency preparedness, particularly its capacity to respond to disease outbreaks.
According to her, “Then at the same time, the last but not the least is strengthening the emergency preparedness in terms of health. We are supporting the state government to see how they can have a very good plan should in case if there is any emergency, we can have like a preparedness plan and see how we can support the state to address all the emergency that we are having as part of the health in terms of like cholera, vaccine, Ebola. So this is the area where we are supporting the state.”
“So in terms of the UNICEF presence, this is where we are. So this is like a remark from our CFO. And I wish you a successful stay as you are going to have like two days with us, a two days working visit,” she concluded.
In his remarks, the Bauchi State Commissioner for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Sani Mohammed Dambam, commended GAC for its interventions over the years through UNICEF, saying the state had benefited from the partnership.
He reiterated the state government’s commitment to partnerships that would improve health indicators and ensure effective service delivery.
The commissioner said the administration had prioritised the health sector and continued to focus on measures to improve the delivery of efficient and effective healthcare services.
He, however, called for increased collaboration with GAC through UNICEF, assuring that the government would continue to ensure the timely release of counterpart funds to achieve the partnership’s objectives.
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