By Jibrin Hussaini Kundum
The Bauchi State Government has acknowledged the technical support provided by SFH in the area of childbirth spacing services through the Delivering Innovation in Self-Care 2.0 (DISC 2.0) project, particularly with the donation of tools to support the quality of FP services across 197 health facilities across the state.
The Executive Chairman of the Bauchi State Primary Health Care Board, Dr. Rilwanu Mohammed, made this announcement at the bi-annual stakeholders’ meeting on the DISC 2.0 project held at Hazibal Hotel, Bauchi.
The intervention is known as Delivering Innovation in Self – Care innovation, funded by the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), bring together key stakeholders to discuss progress, challenges, and future directions for self-care initiatives in the child spacing services with emphasis on self injections.
According to Dr. Mohammed, the technical support includes training and retraining of service providers, provision of 400 FP registers, 400 monthly summaries, 400 RIF, 400 DCR, 40,000 client job aids, and 12,000 client cards, all aimed at enhancing effective data generation for improved services.
Dr. Mohammed further explained that the Bauchi State Government has released ₦50 million as part of its counterpart contribution, signed with UNFPA, to procure childbirth spacing commodities across health facilities.
The Executive Chairman BSPHCB also pledged for more commitment for an additional proposed funding of ₦50 million by the Bauchi State Governor for further procurement of family planning commodities.
He lamented the unavailability of FP commodities at healthcare centers despite robust demand creation, describing it as a missed opportunity in healthcare strengthening.
He appreciated the SFH DISC project for supporting the state in terms of childbirth spacing services, a strategy used globally to reduce maternal and child deaths in communities.
Earlier, the SFH Managing Director, Dr. Omokhudu Idogho, represented by Mr. Michael Titus, National Coordinator, Social Behavior Change DISC 2.0 Project, stated that the goal of the DISC 2.0 project is to empower women across Bauchi State to choose, adopt, and sustain healthy child spacing practices, including self-injection options, thereby reducing unintended pregnancies and promoting maternal well-being.
He also revealed that the project has trained maternal and child coordinators on empathy-based counseling for choice (C4C) methods across 20 LGAs, apart from supporting them with electronic supervision tools and mentorship in health facilities.
“Over 800 service providers from 405 health facilities have undergone training and can adequately operate C4C tools in client engagement. Additionally, LGA Health Education Officers have benefited from IPC capacity building on self-care and childbirth spacing.” Titus explained
Managing Director, emphasized ” as partners in co-developing Bauchi’s maternal and neonatal mortality reduction MAMII plan, SFH directly supports efforts to prevent maternal and neonatal deaths in the state 11 high burden LGAs , and currently DISC is implementing in 197 facilities access the state.
The objectives of the meeting were to share updates and early successes, explore gaps and opportunities in advancing childbirth spacing practices in relation to self-care in Bauchi State, and promote collaboration among stakeholders in the state.
Participants were drawn from LGAs, comprising LGA PHC Directors, LGA MCH, M&E officers, and Health Education Officers. There were presentations, experience sharing and stories from the participants as part of the key highlights of their stakeholders meeting.