By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
Over 600 health care service providers at the primary healthcare level are to be trained on gender responsive healthcare services in Bauchi State.
This was disclosed by the Executive Chairman of the State Primary Health Care Development Agency (BSPHCDA) Dr. Rilwanu Mohammed at the flag off of the training held at the conference hall of Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi State on Thursday.

Dr. Mohammed said that the training is being facilitated by UNICEF Field office Bauchi with funding from Global Affairs Canada.
He said the training will specifically focus on gender responsive approach to Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH).
The Executive Chairman then called on the participants to pay attention to what the facilitators will impact on them, saying, “the training will expose you to simple and practical actions that can be taken by you to incorporate gender responsive approach to services rendered at the primary healthcare facilities and also make RMNCAH services user-friendly for clients”.
Dr. Mohammed also disclosed that the State Government has taken deliberate steps to address man power gaps at PHC level through the recruitment of over 1000 health care workers that would soon be deployed to all the PHCs to argument the current staff strength of the PHCs across the state.

He commended Global Affairs Canada for donating 3 Million Canadian Dollars in order to strengthen primary healthcare services in Bauchi State.
“The Canadian Government has donated the sum of 3 Million Canadian Dollars through UNICEF in an effort to strengthen healthcare services around RMNCAH”, said Dr. Mohammed.
Giving an overview of the training, UNICEF Gender Consultant, Kabati Baba-Tokara said that the objective of the training was to increase healthcare service providers’ understanding on common gender related issues and barriers women and girls face in accessing and utilizing health care.
Tokara also said that the training will seek to orient healthcare providers in recognizing and addressing some common gender sensitive gaps in health service provision.
In a goodwill message, the Chief of Field Office, UNICEF Bauchi Field Office, Mr. Tushar Rane, said that the training was part of a wider health sector development initiative funded by the Government and People of Canada, through its agency, Global Affairs Canada.
Represented by the health specialist of the Bauchi Field Office Dr. Emedo Emmanuel, Mr. Rane said the training was designed to strengthen Primary Health Care (PHC) delivery system especially Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) in the state.
“Commendably, compared to a decade ago, Bauchi state has had an improved trajectory in PHC delivery services in recent years. This can be credited to the commitment of the state government under the leadership of the Executive Governor, His Excellency Senator Bala Mohammed. Worthy of note among these, is the multi-partner MoU with the Aliko Dangote Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation, UNICEF and USAID. The MoU has activated the financing, accountability, coordination and partnership required for strengthening RMNCAH+N services in the state”.
“Despite the successes of the MoU, the state must keep building on its achievements by working to bridge identified gaps such as in knowledge, gender responsiveness and supply side of RMNCAH delivery. For example, the lack of female practitioners and poor health staff behaviours have been identified, among other factors, as hindrances to the demand for health care among pregnant and parenting young people, and adolescents in Bauchi”.
“By embedding gender responsiveness in the PHC system, we can amplify the rights and dignity of clients, most importantly women and adolescent girls”, said Mr. Rane.
He said the training is expected to enhance the awareness and knowledge of the health workers on identifying and addressing gender barriers to healthcare delivery, therefore stimulating increased demand for RMNCAH and related services in the state.
“In collaboration with the BPHCDA, UNICEF built the capacity of 32 facilitators on gender-responsiveness in PHC delivery in the sociocultural system of Bauchi state. These facilitators will lead the training cross the 20 local government areas (LGAS) in the State, they will train a total of 646 community-based frontline health care workers, who attend to families siting at the PHC centers”, the Chief added.
Some of the participants who spoke with our correspondent all expressed their readiness and enthusiasm in learning all that will be taught during the training. They also resolved to cascade the training to their subordinates when they get back to their respective facilities.