Zamfara Launches Comprehensive Safe Delivery Initiative to Transform Maternal and Newborn Health
Health
By Ishaq Zaki | Expert Analysis & Context
Gusau, Dec. 18, 2025 (NAN) – In a significant move to address one of Nigeria’s most pressing public health challenges, the Zamfara State Ministry of Health has officially launched a comprehensive Safe Delivery Initiative. This program is strategically designed to overhaul maternal and newborn healthcare services, aiming to directly combat the state’s historically high rates of maternal and infant mortality.
The launch, held at the Unguwar Dallatu Primary Healthcare Centre in Gusau, marks a pivotal step in Governor Dauda Lawal’s “Rescue Mission Agenda,” which places healthcare reform at its core. The initiative’s timing is notable, coming on the heels of Zamfara being recognized as the top-performing state in the North-West at the recent Primary Health Care Leadership Challenge. This award underscores a foundation of progress upon which the new program aims to build.
In a detailed speech delivered by Dr. Hussaini Yakubu (representing Health Commissioner Dr. Nafisa Maradun), the multi-faceted scope of the initiative was outlined. It is far more than a simple supply drive; it is a holistic system-strengthening effort focused on four critical pillars:
- Infrastructure & Environment: Upgrading delivery rooms to meet basic standards of hygiene, privacy, and safety, transforming them from rudimentary spaces into dignified environments conducive to safe childbirth.
- Continuum of Care: Improving both antenatal (pre-birth) and postnatal (after-birth) care. This ensures women are monitored for risks during pregnancy and supported in the critical weeks following delivery, a period often neglected yet vital for preventing maternal deaths from complications like hemorrhage and infection.
- Essential Supplies: Equipping facilities with a reliable stock of essential drugs, including uterotonics to prevent postpartum hemorrhage, antibiotics, and antihypertensives. The absence of these low-cost supplies is a leading cause of preventable death in low-resource settings.
- Human Resources: Ensuring the presence of Skilled Birth Attendants (SBAs)—midwives, nurses, or doctors trained to manage normal deliveries and identify, manage, and refer obstetric emergencies. This addresses the critical gap of unattended births, which are a major risk factor.
The program will be implemented in a phased, evidence-based manner. The pilot phase will commence in four carefully selected health facilities within Gusau and Maru Local Government Areas. This controlled start allows for monitoring, troubleshooting, and refining the model before a full-scale rollout. The ambitious plan is to expand the initiative to 23 facilities across all 14 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state, ensuring wider geographic equity in access to quality care.
A key theme of the launch was collaboration. The Commissioner explicitly acknowledged the indispensable support of development partners, including the World Health Organization (WHO), Acasus, the International Rescue Committee, Première Urgence Internationale, and UNICEF. This coalition highlights that complex health system reforms require a “whole-of-society” approach, combining government leadership with the technical and financial resources of international agencies. Dr. Raji Mukhtar, the State WHO Coordinator, reaffirmed this partnership, stating the organization’s continued commitment to supporting Zamfara as a key development partner.
Perhaps the most profound objective stated was the initiative’s aim to “rebuild community trust in the healthcare system.” In many regions, past experiences of poorly equipped facilities and absent staff have driven women to seek delivery at home without skilled care. By creating functional, reliable, and respectful maternity services, this initiative seeks to reverse that trend, encouraging facility-based deliveries where lives can be saved. The commissioner’s call to stakeholders for sustained support is crucial, as the long-term success of such programs depends on consistent funding, political will, and community engagement.
If successfully implemented and scaled, Zamfara’s Safe Delivery Initiative could serve as a replicable model for other states in Northern Nigeria facing similar challenges. It moves beyond rhetoric to address the specific, tangible gaps—infrastructure, supplies, skills, and trust—that stand between mothers and safe childbirth.
(NAN)(www.nannews.ng).
IZ/USO
Edited by Sam Oditah | Enhanced and Contextualized by Expert Analysis
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