The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has handed over the renovated and expanded DISO Primary Healthcare Centre in Gwale LGA to Kano State Primary Healthcare Management Board, as part of efforts to improve primary healthcare delivery.
Speaking at the handover ceremony, UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Kano, Shafeeq Ur-Rehman, urged community leaders and residents to take ownership of the facility and ensure its proper maintenance and sustainability.
The DISO PHC is one of five healthcare facilities renovated under a Global Fund-supported programme implemented by UNICEF.
Ur-Rehman said sustained community engagement was essential to preserving healthcare investments and ensuring the facilities continued to serve present and future generations.
He called for adequate staffing with skilled health workers, regular availability of medicines, vaccines and other essential supplies, as well as continuous monitoring of service delivery.
The UNICEF official said stronger community ownership would improve the quality and sustainability of primary healthcare services, while commending the partnership between UNICEF, the Kano State Government, the State Primary Healthcare Management Board and the Global Fund.
Ur-Rehman reaffirmed UNICEF’s commitment to supporting Kano State in strengthening its primary healthcare system and improving the health and well-being of children, women and families.
The upgraded facility includes an expanded delivery room, laboratory, consultation room, nurses’ station, male and female wards, and separate accessible toilets, among other improvements.
The Director-General of the State Primary Healthcare Management Board, Prof. Salisu Ibrahim, represented by the Director of Administration, Adamu Fate, commended UNICEF for the intervention, saying it would improve the quality of primary healthcare services in the state.
The Ward Head of DISO Ward, Ahmed Bello, also commended UNICEF and its partners, assuring that the community would take responsibility for protecting and maintaining the facility to ensure its continued provision of quality healthcare services.
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