……. pledges support for sustainability plan
By Imrana Ilelah
The Sokoto State House of Assembly has praised EngenderHealth for implementing the ongoing USAID-funded Momentum Safe Surgery Project (MSSFPO) in the state. The House has also committed to supporting efforts to sustain the best practices learned, aimed at improving healthcare outcomes in the state.
The Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Tukur Bodinga gave the commendation in his keynote address recently at a one-day sustainability and scale-up meeting organized by the USAID-funded Momentum Safe Surgery Project.
Represented by Hon. Kabiru Dauda, the member representing Gada West Constituency and Chairman of the House Committee on Health, the Speaker expressed the House’s approval of the innovations introduced by the USAID Momentum Project, particularly in the areas of safe surgery and data management.
He emphasized the House’s dedication to passing legislation that improves healthcare services in the state, stating,
“The House will pass a bill that would improve healthcare service delivery to the people.”
In her opening address at the meeting, State Commissioner of Health, Hon. Hajia Asabe Balarabe, represented by Dr. Abdulganiyu Yusuf, Director of Public Health, highlighted the significant achievements resulting from the state’s collaboration with the EngenderHealth Momentum Safe Surgery Project in pursuing quality healthcare delivery.
She emphasized that strategic partnerships and targeted interventions, such as those with USAID Momentum safe surgery, have led to tangible improvements in maternal and child health outcomes across Sokoto State.
Hajia Balarabe detailed some of the major successes achieved through their partnership with the MOMENTUM Project, including championing fistula efforts and rehabilitation initiatives, capacity building for healthcare workers, enhancing safety protocols, innovative health information digitalization through the HEFRIAS platform, and collective advocacy resulting in a budget allocation of N200 million for the procurement of fistula repair consumables.
“This landmark achievement reflects our dedication to ensuring the availability of essential resources for life-saving surgeries and reaffirms our commitment to the well-being of our citizens,” said the Commissioner.
Sokoto State Coordinator of USAID MOMENTUM Safe Surgery, Umar Abdulrazaq, explained that the meeting aimed to assess the status of the project interventions, identify opportunities for sustainability and expansion, and develop strategies for long-term impact in Sokoto State.
In his welcome remarks, Country Representative of EngenderHealth Nigeria, Dr. Kabiru Atta, represented by Mr. Stanley Osayi, elaborated on EngenderHealth’s intervention, supported by USAID funding, in the areas of Safe Surgery in Family Planning and Obstetrics.
In closing remarks on behalf of participants, Chief Medical Director of Maryam Abacha Women and Children Hospital, Dr. Hadiza Tori, expressed appreciation for the project’s support in fistula repairs and advocacy efforts, which led to the allocation of 200 million Naira in the 2024 budget for the purchase of fistula repair consumables in the state.
She pledged to follow up on the release of the funds and to ensure the sustainability and upscaling of the project interventions beyond the lifespan of the MSSFPO project.
The meeting concluded with the development of a sustainability plan encompassing all thematic areas of the project intervention in the state, including Fistula, Ambulance System, Quality of Care (QoC), Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC), and data quality systems DHIS and NOQA. This plan will be costed and shared with the state before the project concludes.
