8th November, 2015
Femi Adi/Kaduna
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS has selected Kaduna State as the best performing state during the first phase of the 2015 Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Week.
The Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Samuel Aruwan in statement made available to our correspondent on Sunday, said the news of the prize was conveyed in a letter signed by Dr. Bilali Camara, the Country Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.
According to the statement, Camara’s letter, which was addressed to the Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, informed that Kaduna State won the prize because its hospitals counselled and tested 84,000 pregnant women for HIV during the period and referred everyone that tested positive to a treatment facility.
UNAIDS in the letter said the prize awarded “serve to witness this unparalleled nationwide MNCH Week success in Kaduna State.”
It noted that the state advanced the objective to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV as well as recognise the achievement by pledging 14,000 United States Dollars to support Kaduna State in the next phase of the MNCH Week.
In another development, the state healthcare system also got a boost with MTN Foundation selecting five government owned hospitals to benefit from its maternity ward support project.
MTN Foundation in a letter notified Governor Nasir El-Rufai that the five hospitals were selected after rigorous inspection and verification of the expression of interest submitted by Kaduna State.
“As a result of the selection, the maternity wards of each of the hospital will get 20 adjustable hospital beds, 20 bedside cupboards, 10 foldable ward screens, 20 hydraulic over-bed tables, 20 visitor chairs, two neonatal incubators, 20 baby cots, 10 drip stands, 20 mattresses and 40 pillows. In addition, all the maternity wards will be renovated, with the provision of toilets and a nurse’s bay,” it stated.
The hospitals to benefit include: Yusuf Dantsoho Hospital, Kaduna; General Hospital, Kafanchan; Jubrin Maigari Hospital, Birnin-Gwari; Hajiya Gambo Sawaba Hospital, Zaria; and the Dabo Lere Memorial Hospital, Saminaka.