Gombe to Sustain Partnership with UN Agency, Chinese Govt on Health

By Segun Awofadeji

Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, has restated the commitment of the state government to sustain its partnership with United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) in all areas of interest towards achieving universal health coverage.

Yahaya, who made this known at the weekend during a bilateral meeting with the Country Representative of UNICEF, Mr. Peter Hawkins, at the Government House, said his administration is equally desirous of establishing a strong bilateral relationship with the Chinese Government to boost other areas like agriculture, mining and renewable energy among others.

He expressed appreciation to UNICEF and Chinese Government for the partnership and support that helped in the upgrade of 10 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) in Kwami Lcaal Government Areas of the state.

The governor said the support offered by the intervention complimented his administration’s vision of having one functional PHC in each of the 114 wards of the state.

The governor noted that so far, his administration has done well in the health sector but that given the size of the state, there is the need to expand the programme to other local government areas, saying if extended, it will enable the state government to achieve the universal health coverage.

According to him, “During my visit to the UN in 2019, I solicited for partnership and support of the UNICEF in some key areas, including human resources for health, severe acute malnutrition through the scaling up of interventions and building local capacity to produce RUTF.”

He explained that the state is currently producing complimentary food through partnership with IAR.

Yahaya observed that being at the centre of the North-east region, the state has continued to play host to a large number of displaced persons with a consequential effect.