Kebbi kicks-off integrated care for children

The ARFH, state government with support from EU – UNICEF said it will build the capacity of over 2,500 Community Oriented Resource Persons and Supervisors across Hard to Reach Communities in the 21 Local Government Areas of the state.At the inaugural ceremony which took place over the weekend at the palace of the Sarkin Gabbas […]

The ARFH, state government with support from EU – UNICEF said it will build the capacity of over 2,500 Community Oriented Resource Persons and Supervisors across Hard to Reach Communities in the 21 Local Government Areas of the state.
At the inaugural ceremony which took place over the weekend at the palace of the Sarkin Gabbas of Gwandu,the Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Hussaini Raha, and  Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Alhaji Mohammed Shalla, both gave assurance of the support and commitment of the state government.
The commissioner said, “This is with support from UNICEF’s European Union Grant for Maternal, New born & Child Health (MNCH) in Kebbi and Adamawa states,” he said.
He said the collaboration for iCCM in the state commenced with a 6-day intensive training of 121 service providers made up of 109 CORPs and 12 supervisors distributed across Hard to Reach Communities in Gwandu Local Government Area.
Earlier, in her remarks, Mrs Janet Iwunoh, representative of ARFH, said North West Nigeria has one of the highest under five mortality statistics in the country, common childhood illnesses (Malaria, Pneumonia and Diarrhoea) have been implicated in this trend.
She stated that, the iCCM, an equity-focused strategy, whose scope includes these three disease areas that will improve Child Health Services and contribute to Nigeria’s goal of achieving MDG 4 and 6 “reducing child mortality by two-thirds and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases”.
“The community volunteers also referred as Community Oriented Resource Persons (CORPs) will provide health services to children under the age of 5 years for common childhood illnesses namely; Malaria,  Pneumonia and Diarrhea and refer severe cases with specific ‘danger signs’ of illness or severe malnutrition to specific health facilities for management,” she added.
The Sarkin Gabbas of Gwandu, Alhaji Bello Haruna Rasheed, expressed delight for the selection of his district for the take-off of the iCCM project and called on the new CORPs to show dedication to their duties and practice within the scope of their training.
Asabe Umar, one of the beneficiaries who hails from Gwandu, said the six days training has afforded her the skill to identify and offer treatment on common childhood illnesses to children under the age of five.