Kano validates Free Maternal, Newborn and Child Health service charter

The Kano state government has validated its proposed Free Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Service, FMNCH charter, which aims to empower Kano citizens to be able to demand for accountability in the delivery of the government’s free maternal, newborn and child health programme.

The validation meeting which took place last Tuesday and had in attendance  health stakeholders in Kano state was chaired by the state’s commissioner of health, Kabiru Ibrahim Getso, and attended by various heads of parastatals and directors of major healthcare facilities under the health ministry, civil society organizations, the media, as well as representatives of donor agencies and their implementing partners working in the state.

Delivering the opening remarks at the validation meeting, the Kano state commissioner of health, Kabiru Ibrahim Getso, said the proposed Kano State Free MNCH Service Charter would help in facilitating the successful delivery of the state’s free maternal, newborn and child health programme.

“The service charter as a document developed for the state will serve as a guide towards strengthening our free maternal, newborn and child health programme towards reducing morbidity and mortality in Kano state,” said Getso, who was represented by the executive secretary of the Kano State Hospitals Management Board, KSHMB, Aminu Ibrahim Tsanyawa.

“The state will take it as a guiding document, one that will be circulated to all health facilities offering these services. With the government’s political will and increase in funding [for the healthcare facilities] I am sure it will succeed.”

The formulation of the proposed Kano State free MNCH Service Charter was spearheaded by the Kano-based CSO, Youth Society for the Prevention of Infectious Diseases and Social Vices, YOSPIS, with the support of the Champions for Change, C4C programme.

The Champions for Change invests in visionary local leaders and organizations to sustainably improve health outcomes for women, children and youth in Sub-Saharan Africa. Champions for Change, C4C, achieves large-scale impacts through advocacy, leadership development, organizational strengthening and grant making.

In Nigeria, C4C’s national network is advocating for improved Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health, RMNCAH. In Kenya, C4C works to prevent and combat Non-Communicable Diseases, NCDs, among young people through locally-led advocacy.

Speaking to our correspondent, shortly after the validation meeting, Abdulrazaq Alkali, the executive director of YOSPIS, said they were done with work on the charter and added that all that remained was the health commissioner’s accent on the validated charter.

“Implementation is now the major task ahead, the service charter will serve as a monitoring and accountability tool, since the government is providing these services for free we have to ensure that healthcare facilities are providing the services for free,” said Alkali

Also speaking to African Newspage, country representative of the Champions for Change in Nigeria, Thresesa Kaka Effa, said the free MNCH service charter will “empower and provide information to clients to be able to access improved [free] healthcare services at different healthcare facilities”.

“The charter is a good document for the free MNCH programme,” said Effa. “It is a bold step by the Kano state ministry of health; it is highly commendable. It’s now left for the civil society and other collaborators of the government to enlighten people especially women to be able to access the services.  And if they are not satisfied there are processes of channeling complaints for the services to be improved.”