To curtail the rise in maternal mortality rate in Kano State, the Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) organised a stakeholder workshop in Kano to develop strategies to enhance the implementation of Kano State’s free maternal and child healthcare law.
Kano is often recognised for having a higher maternal mortality rate in Nigeria despite having an established law, the “Kano State Free Maternal and Child Healthcare Law 2023,” which Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje assented to in 2023.
As the number keeps growing, according to recent data, the state has the highest maternal mortality rate, with 377.8 per 100,000 live births, which exceeds the national target of 288 per 100,000.
CHRICED, which participated in establishing the Free Maternal and Child Healthcare Law by providing evidence-based data, engaging stakeholders on the need to improve health facilities and service delivery, and generally advocating for solutions to curtail the maternal mortality rate, organised a two-day workshop to outline strategies for the proper implementation of the law.
However, during the engagement, the centre’s executive director, Dr Ibrahim Zikirullah, charged the Kano State government to save lives by ensuring proper implementation of the law.
In an interview with Daily Episode, Zikirullah explains that “part of the importance of the law is that it is expected that mothers will enjoy free antenatal and postnatal care, and the child born will also enjoy free medical attention up to 59 months as stipulated in the law.
You will agree with me that many want to access the hospital for childbirth, but due to financial constraints, they can’t afford to.
It does not dignify a woman who is trying to fight another life to lose her own; that’s one of the biggest challenges we see, which is why we are calling for the full implementation of the law.”.
Having analysed the situation where women and children are dying in droves, we see the need to gather here to improve the situation by providing evidence-based strategies to enhance output, which will help the government in the implementation process.
On his note, we are appealing to the state government to understand the critical need for the situation by implementing the law it has assented to since 2023.” He added.
However, the district head of Tudun Wada, Dr Bashir Muhammad Dankade who represents the emir of Kano at the events discloses how the implementation will curtail the maternal mortality rate in the state.
Dankade underlines how the delay in implementation of the law is contributing to the higher maternal mortality rate in Kano, which needs urgency to save lives which forms the major responsibility of the government.
According to Dankade, “The emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, is always worried about women and children issues. I am confident if this CHRICED and other NGOs concerned about health issues will work with our committee to track the implementation process, wherever we see infractions or lapses, we will inform our superiors to intervene.
We are lucky to have Emire, who is committed to seeing the full implementation of this law due to his dedication to supporting processes that ease the suffering of his servants, especially women and children; therefore, we will follow up and track the implementation process, he assured.
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