By Asma’u Ahmad
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has reiterated its commitment to improve maternal and child health in
Nigeria by reducing the rate of maternal and child mortality.
USAID Director, Peace and Democratic Governance Office, Dr. Blair King made this known in Kaduna at the opening of a two-day Consensus Workshop on the Sokoto State Strategic Health Development Plan, 2016-2020.
He said: USAID is highly concerned with the high rates of maternal and child mortality and it would offer the necessary interventions to
reduce the disturbing figures. The agency is also fully committed to improving other health indices, as well as taming HIV/AIDS, Malaria
and other diseases.
Dr. King further stated that USAID would help to raise the immunisation levels in Sokoto and other parts of the country, so as to boost the immunity of vulnerable children against child killer diseases.
“USAID will do everything humanly possible to ensure that the plan is made as a living document in the next five years. We will also help in
its smooth and successful implementation, with all the indicators, timelines and targets made realizable,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chief of Party, Research Triangular Institute/ Leadership, Empowerment, Advocacy and Development (RTI/LEAD) project, Alhaji Tijjani Mohammed said the workshop was a sequel to two other ones on the development of the action plan.
Alhaji Mohammed noted that the plan was crucial to the improvement of the health sector in Sokoto state over the next five years.
The state Commissioner of Health, Dr. Balarabe Kakale-Shuni, represented by a Director in the ministry, Alhaji Dadi Adare commended
USAID and the RTI/LEAD project for the numerous interventions in the state.
