By Lizzy Carr
Long before a pregnant woman ever reaches a health center in Jamaare local government area of Bauchi State, Yusuf Hafizu is already on the move.
Yusuf Hafizu isn’t a doctor or a government healthcare worker. He is a local volunteer with the Fathers for Good Health Initiative, and his clinic is the daily life of Jama’are Local Government Area, its mosques, neighborhood meetings, and post-birth naming ceremonies.
“I use key life events to create awareness,” Hafizu says. “Prevention costs little or nothing compared to waiting until complications set in.”
In a region where facility-based births have historically lagged behind antenatal attendance, Hafizu and thousands of grassroots volunteers are transforming how rural families approach maternal and child survival during the first 1,000 days from conception to a child’s second birthday.
Grassroots mobilization in Bauchi State isn’t just targeting fathers; it is fundamentally reshaping household decision-making.
In Tudun Wada, Adama Abdullahi has spent nine years walking door-to-door as a Mama-to-Mama volunteer. Her goal is clear: register pregnant women for antenatal care, encourage routine immunization, and ensure no birth happens without a skilled attendant.
“Even if I am called to a house where a pregnant woman is in labour, I don’t take the delivery,” Abdullahi stresses. “Rather, I take her to a health facility to be attended to by a skilled health attendant.”
Once exclusive breastfeeding ends at six months, the focus shifts to preventing malnutrition. In Saminaka community 50-year-old Kande Dokaji talks to families on how to use locally available ingredients like soya beans, groundnuts, and local vegetables to prepare rich complementary meals.
Her approach demonstrates how families can dramatically improve children’s diets without relying on expensive imported food.
The ground-level push comes at a crucial moment for Bauchi State’s primary healthcare system. While antenatal visits are relatively high, getting women to deliver inside health facilities remains a major hurdle.
Executive Chairman of the Bauchi State Primary Health Care Board Dr Rilwanu Mohammed acknowledges that community volunteers have become indispensable bridge-builders. Their house-by-house advocacy helps offset supply-chain bottlenecks for essential nutrition commodities, including Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), brought on by broader economic pressures.
Supported by the U.S. Government and UNICEF, the initiative has already trained over 6,000 volunteers and reached more than 40,000 young children across the state with essential supplements.
Nutrition Specialist UNICEF Bauchi Field Office, Philomena Irene the window from pregnancy to age two is non-negotiable for physical and brain development.
Irene added that more than 6,000 Mama-to-Mama and Fathers for Good Health volunteers have been trained to provide skills and public health messaging on the prevention of malnutrition and other interventions around the first 1,000 days.
She added more than 50 healthcare workers have also received training on supplementation and related nutrition services.
According to her, the support has also strengthened logistics and health information management systems, while helping to improve the capacity of Local Government Food and Nutrition Committees.
She said local governments are increasingly being encouraged to take ownership of nutrition interventions by committing and releasing funds for nutrition activities and commodities.
Irene described the first 1000 days period from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday as a critical “window of opportunity” for development.
She explained that significant brain, muscular, skeletal and vital-organ development takes place during this period, making proper nutrition and healthcare essential for a child’s growth and future wellbeing.
Philomena Irene warned that inadequate nutrition during the first 1,000 days can have long-term consequences for children’s development and their ability to reach their full potential.