UNFPA Programme Officer in the state, Gloria
Enueze, presented the items to the state government at the Emergency Operation
Centre (EOC), State Specialist Hospital, Sokoto.
Enueze said the UNFPA was supporting the fight
against the COVID-19 pandemic in the country through the EU-UN Basket Fund in
Response to COVID-19 Pandemic.
She said the support was for the
implementation of risk communication and community engagement activities.
According to the UNFPA official, the
intervention is designed to contain the spread of the pandemic, enhance access
to quality reproductive healthcare services, as well as, mitigate the effects
of the pandemic.
She further said that the activities aimed at
reversing the negative impact of COVID-19 across the country and ensure equal
access to essential health services through social and economic analytics.
“It is geared towards ensuring proactive early
recovery and social protection activities, including behavioural change
communication messages, targeting vulnerable groups.
“Sokoto State was selected as one of the
states in the North West that benefited from the project with overall
coordination by the UNFPA Kaduna sub-office.
“The programme is to orient and train a pool
of vulnerable adolescents (boys, girls and women), on the use of face masks, in
other to strengthen the COVID -19 response.
“The project focused on three high burdened
Local Government Areas (LGAs), that comprised Wamakko, Sokoto South and
Dange-Shuni,” Enueze said.
She listed the programme achievements to
include distribution of PPEs and consumables in three LGAs, and provision of
essential (Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) services, including Family Planning
(FP) and COVID-19 related supports.
The Programme Officer further said other
services comprised support to community champions and youth networks, to
develop community action plans and become COVID-19 Youth Ambassadors.
She also listed other activities as training
of health facility workers, including private hospitals, on risk mitigation and
protective measures to institute IPC protocols, organising talk shows and
phone-in programmes, including jingles in three different radio stations in
Sokoto State.
Dr Abdurrahman Ahmad, the Director, Public
Health in Sokoto State Ministry of Health, commended the UNFPA for the gesture
and assured it of judicious use of the items to safeguard citizens’ health.
Ahmad said the items would be distributed to
UNFPA supported health facilities, as well as to others with high priority
needs, in order to improve public health.
He explained that the UNFPA had been
supporting the Sokoto government on Visco Vagina Fistula (VVF), Family Planning
and Maternal Services, including the provision of maternal waiting rooms.
“We look further to partner with UNFPA on
expanding Family Planning Services, as people are becoming more aware and
demands for the services are going higher,” Ahmad said.
According to him, the present donations of
Liquid Hand Wash, hand sanitisers, face shields and other items, will also
augument efforts towards containing the gastroenteritis outbreak that is
affecting some parts of the state.