Gombe State Government has lauded the intervention of The Challenge Initiative (TCI) in executing the child spacing project in the State.
The State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, made the commendation during the closeout meeting of the project with a commitment to sustain the programme.
Represented by his Deputy, Manasseh Daniel Jatau (Ph.D), the Governor said, Gombe State Government is capable of sustaining the programme for the benefit of it’s people.
Underscoring the importance of child spacing in strengthening the health of his people especially women and children, the Governor pledged his administration’s readiness to continue to ensure rapid response to health issues for the overall wellbeing of the people.
He said, the theme of the meeting “Gombe’s journey towards self reliance and chronicles of sustainable impact at scale for Reproductive health” is coming at a time when population explosion is overwhelming the available limited resources.
He pointed out that an unplanned productive population is a challenge and a threat to the society and this situation has remained so in least developed countries including Nigeria.
“I wish to state that coming to Gombe about two years was a welcome development, and considered apt, germane, necessary and inevitable.
“It is on record that since the coming of this administration on May 29th, 2019, it has been concerned on the bio-data and other variables of the residents in the state.
“The importance and role of child birth spacing of children, reducing maternal mortality and morbidity, living well nourished and healthy life which are some of the concerns of TCI, came at the time the state showed great interest, care and concern about the residents in the state”, he pointed out.
The Governor appreciated the immense contributions of TCI to the development of the Health sector and solicited for another opportunity to further propel Family Planning activities in the state.
Earlier, Executive Director of TCI, Kojo Lokko, who presented his remark virtually, congratulated Gombe State for the feat and successes achieved during the span of the project.
He then tasked the State Government to put on structures for the sustainability of the programme just as he appreciated the State Government for the support given to TCI to execute the project.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Habu Dahiru who gave the synopsis of achievements said, before the coming of the project, the uptake of child spacing commodity was not encouraging.
He however expressed satisfaction that TCI has changed the set up with better policies that strengthened the health systems and fostered patronage across health facilities.
Dr Dahiru said, though the project has ended in the state, sustainability plans has already been put in place to ensure that child spacing activities thrives in the state.