UNICEF made significant strides in improving public health and community well-being across Northern Nigeria.
By Uzairu Dauda Bunga:
The United Nations Children’s Fund Education Bauchi Field Office has made significant strides in improving public health and community well-being across northern Nigeria through Social Behavior Change initiatives.
The UNICEF Bauchi Field Office SBC Specialist Mr. George Eki highlighted the unit’s accomplishments in twenty twenty four, during a stakeholders’ meeting on Social Behavior Change and Accountability to Affected Populations, attended by UNICEF Implementing partners from Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe states, held at Hazibal Suits, Bauchi.
He reported that UNICEF referred sixty six thousand, three hundred and three children to health facilities and fully vaccinated through four hundred “Fathers for Good Health” champions across twenty Local Government Areas in Bauchi, Plateau, Taraba and Gombe states.
Mr. Eki emphasized the critical need for maternal and child health services, noting that many children die within their first one thousand days of life from preventable diseases.
He urged pregnant women to attend antenatal care, deliver in health facilities, ensure full immunization for their children, and register births promptly.
Mr. Eki said, the SBC unit also played a vital role in the nationwide HPV vaccination campaign.
On the fight against open defecation, the SBC Specialist said UNICEF brought together ten states including Bauchi, Adamawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, FCT, Yobe, Oyo, Enugu, and Rivers, to discuss and address challenges to achieving Open Defecation Free status.
Mr George said during the Borno floods, the UNICEF provided one hundred and fourteen thousand, five hundred and eight people with timely hygiene information to prevent disease outbreaks.
He said these efforts demonstrate UNICEF’s ongoing commitment to empowering communities through behavior change, improving health outcomes and building resilience in vulnerable populations across Nigeria.
