…… maternal health, family planning, reproductive health, HIV tops discussion
By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
Bauchi State Ministry of Budget, Economic Planning and Multilateral Coordination in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has organised a One Day State UNFPA 9th Country Programme biannual partners meeting that focuses on maternal health (MH), Family Planning (FP), Sexaul and Reproductive Health (SRH) and HIV.
Speaking at the meeting which was held at the conference hall of ministry on Friday 15th December 2023, State Commissioner of Budget, Economic Planning and Multilateral Coordination, Aminu Hammayo said the meeting is timely more so, as the State is on the verge of implementing it’s social protection policy that seeks to carter for the less privileged and vulnerable target group in the State.
He commended UNFPA for supporting the meeting and also informed that the Ministry would explore avenue of sourcing for resources to see if such partners meeting could be holding at quarterly period.
In an opening remark shortly before commencement of the meeting, permanent secretary of the ministry Alhaji Idris Sale Giade said that the meeting would provide an opportunity for State relevant MDAs, CSOs and Implementing Partners to share experience in the areas of MH, FP/SRH and HIV which is the core thematic focus of the meeting.
Alhaji Sale said that the meeting would also pave the way for integration, State ownership and information sharing and knowledge, including challenges, good practices and lessons learned during program implementation in Bauchi State.
He then urged the State MDAs to always avail the Ministry their quarterly data in order to build an enrich database for the State.
Usman Umar Muhammad, Program Director in the ministry, while highlighting what the meeting would seek to achieve said that one of the major objective of bringing the Forum together is to achieve the UNFPA three transformative results of ending preventable maternal deaths, unmet need , GBV and harmful practices.
Muhammad further said that the meeting would also provide an avenue to explore on coordination and synergy amongst various implementing partners aimed at achieving effective results.
Giving an overview of the UNFPA 9th Country Programme, State Program officer, Deborah Tabara said the Programme is aligned to the National Development Plan, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union Agenda 2063.
Tabara further said the programme is also aligned to the UNFPA Strategic Plan of 2022-2025 and also contributes to the achievement of SDGs goals 2,3,5, 10, 13, 16 and 17.
The state UNFPA officer said the programme is also focusing on human rights, gender equality, and gender transformative approaches that will be cross-cutting in addressing SRH and GBV information and services.
Other areas that the programme aims to focus, according to Ms. Tabara, include: gender mainstreaming, social norms and practices that perpetuate inequalities and vulnerabilities, data and intelligence generation to monitor the progress of the transformative results, leading to informed evidence based policy and programme development in Bauchi State.
Our correspondent reports that, there were overview presentations from participants during the meeting that triggered robust and productive discussions on successes, challenges, experience sharing, prospects and lessons learnt in the implementation of their respective programs and activities in Bauchi State