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Cross River says it is poised to ensure safe, secured and friendly environment for learning in public and private schools with the adoption of rules and regulations for primary and secondary schools in the state.
The State Commissioner for Education, Mr Godwin Amanke, said this on Friday in Calabar at a town hall meeting and media dissemination of Rules and Regulation for Primary and Secondary Schools.
Amanke represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mrs Aniede Ekpenyong, said that he deemed the move necessary as it was only a safe environment that the quality of teaching and learning could be guaranteed.
The commissioner commended the Society for Family Health (SFH) and UNESCO for strengthening skills and the enthronement of a productive learning environment in schools.
He noted that within and outside the school environment, the child learner deserved the right to be protected from any form of physical, sexual and emotional abuse.
“There is no denying the fact that what makes for quality education anywhere in the world is not just the presence of grandiose structures and facilities.
“Importantly, the quality of teaching and learning within a safe, secured and friendly environment devoid of any school-related-gender-based violence makes for a quality education.
“This, therefore, speaks to the importance of school rules and regulations as veritable tools for the smooth running of the school and for the overall interests and benefits of the learners, ’’he said.
Also, UNESCO called for a proper implementation of the rules and regulations for the school system to function effectively.
Mrs Oyebukola Tomori-Adeleye, Programme Specialist, UNESCO, said the body remained passionate to ensuring the protection of the well-being of the child.
Similarly, the Society for Family Health (SFH) said that the formal adoption of the document followed three years of brainstorming by stakeholders in the education sector.
Mr Godpower Omoregie, Practice Area Lead, Tuberculosis and HIV at SFH, listed the stakeholders to include: the Ministry of Education in the state, the Nigeria Union of Teachers, UNESCO, and SFH as well as the State Universal Basic Education.
He said only two states: Cross River, Kaduna as well as the Federal Capital Territory, were involved in this phase of the project.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
No fewer than 7.3 million beneficiaries have received the Insecticide Treated Nets (ITN) across the 25 local government areas of Niger state, an official has said.
Mr Musa Zakari, an official of the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), supporting the Technical Workstream for the 2022 ITN campaign in Niger state, announced this during the 2022 state ITN campaign debriefing in Minna on Wednesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that Niger state in collaboration with NMEP, Society for Family Health (SFH), Catholic Relief Service and Chemonics, distributed 3.7 million ITN to households to fight malaria in the state.
Zakari disclosed that a total number of 3,762,873 ITN were distributed to 1,469,935 households mobilised using 2,502 device for the campaign across the 25 local government areas of Niger.
He said that the nets were distributed using the 2006 census projected to 2022 of the state, adding that 100 per cent rate of the ITN were distributed.
He added that 9,487 personnel were trained and engaged for the campaign, adding that 68 pieces of ITN were remaining at the state warehouse post campaign.
Zakari, however, listed the challenges encountered during the mobilisation and distribution exercise of ITN to include difficulties in accessing some communities due to peak of raining season.
Other challenges he said were micro plan population was more than the ITN requirement for the state and cases of alleged misuse of nets in some local government areas especially in Bida and Mashegu.
Also, Mr John Ocholi, the Campaign Manager for ITN in Niger, appreciated the Niger government for providing an enabling environment for successful 2022 ITN campaign in the state.
He said that the population of the Niger state was more than the number of nets allocated to the state, adding that more households were covered in 2022 than it was in 2019.
Responding, Dr Muhammad Maikusidi, Commissioner for Health and Hospital Management in Niger, commended the partners for providing free nets to residents of the state.
Makusidi, represented by Dr Mohammed Gana, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, said malaria prevalence in the state was still high and appealed to the partners to do more to reduce malaria burden.
The total population in Niger was estimated at 24.2 million people in 2020, according to the latest census figures and projections from Trading Economics.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
The World Bank has supported no fewer than 1,097,048 women and children with nutrition and adolescent health packages in Kaduna State.
The intervention was recorded during the first year of implementing the bank’s Accelerating Nutrition Result in Nigeria (ANRIN).
Mr Murtala Ibrahim, the Project Coordinator, Society for Family Health (SFH), Kaduna State, and ANRIN project implementing partner, disclosed this during a courtesy visit to the Emir of Zazzau, Malam Ahmed Bamalli, on Wednesday in Zaria.
Ibrahim said in May 2021 the emir graciously granted its request to lead the advocacy and that the visit was to update the first class traditional ruler as the ANRIN ambassador with achievements of the project.
He said SFH was implementing the ANRIN project on behalf of Kaduna state because of its expertise and SFH has achieved good results on the implementation.
The project coordinator said in the first year of the project implementation, it provided nine different interventions to women and children around nutrition and adolescent health.
“SFH provides counseling on exclusive breastfeeding to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers to enable them support their babies, 150,000 women were reached in that category.
“Iron, folic acid and Malaria prevention drugs was also provided to over 80,000 pregnant women for healthy pregnancy and additional 40,000 women were reached with child spacing commodities to enable them offer good care for their babies.
“We have also de-wormed over 200,000 children and provided vitamin supplement to over 240,000 children aged five years and below,’’ he said.
He added that they provided ORS and Zinc to prevent diarrhoea among children and over 100,000 households were reached with such services, adding that additional over 86,000 infants received micronutrients powder to prevent malnutrition.
“ In all, over 1,097,048 women and children were reached in the first year of the implementation of the programme; this also shows that the project had reached 115 per cent of its target,’’ he said.
Ibrahim said the project attributed its success to the immense support from the emirate council and urged the royal father to sustain the advocacy of more adolescents to be in school.
He also appealed to the emir for more support in the area of funding to scale up the nutrition and adolescent health component of the project.
Earlier, Hajia Mairo Tahir, the Communications Officer, ANRIN, said the project’s objectives were aimed at increasing quality and cost effective nutrition services for pregnant and lactating women, adolescent girls and children under five years in the state.
She added that the project was also aimed at reducing chronic malnutrition and maternal mortality rate which was also high in the state and the project has recorded tremendous success in reversing the ugly indices since its commencement.
According to her, the World Bank supported ANRIN Project and the Kaduna state Project Implementing Unit (PIU) has secured 2.7 million dollars (about N1.9bn) for treatment of malnourished children in the state.
The fund was used for the purchase of Ready to use Thereauphatic Food (RUTF) and food had provided significant improvement in the life of these children affected by malnutrition in the state.
She, therefore, appealed to the emir to assist in tracking implementation of the supply of commodities in the emirate.
Responding, Bamalli commended the programme for the outstanding performance and encouraged people coming with new projects meant for the community to pass through the emirate council for optimal results.
He reiterated the commitment of the emirate council to sustain the support for the project.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, has attributed the 35 per cent malaria prevalence cases in Niger to low usage of mosquito nets among residents of the state.
He said this when he led a delegation from the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) and other malaria control partners on advocacy visit on the 2022 Insecticide Treated Nets (ITN) campaign to Gov. Abubakar Sani-Bello of Niger in Minna on Wednesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Niger state government is collaborating with NMEP, Society for Family Health (SFH), Catholic Relief Service and Chemonics to distribute over 3.7 million ITN in the state.
Ehanire, represented by Mr Okefu Okoko, Head Integrated Vector Management Branch of NMEP of the Federal Ministry of Health, disclosed that Niger had 35 per cent malaria prevalence which was high because only 16 per cent of people were using nets in the state.
“A lot of work needs to be done, especially on net ownership and usage which is very low despite several efforts.
That is what we are working towards to improve upon in the state,” he said.
He said that Global Fund was supporting Niger state with N11.9 billion for three years to be used for different aspects of malaria intervention such as provision of drugs, nets, seasonal malaria chemo prevention and rapid malaria test kits.
He appealed to the state government to pay it’s counterpart funds of N1.7 billion to ensure that malaria parasite prevalence was reduced below 10 per cent before 2025 and reduce mortality.
Responding, Bello commended NMEP and other malaria control partners for donating over 3.7 million ITN which would go a way in reducing malaria prevalence in the state.
He described the 16 per cent usage of mosquito nets among residents of the state as very low and pledged to provide support needed for the net campaign to ensure that the everyone got access to nets for usage.
Earlier, Dr Muhammad Makusidi, Commissioner of Health in Niger, said about 3.7 million nets worth N4 billion had been allocated to the state for mass distribution.
In her remarks, Dr Jennifer Anyanti, Deputy Managing Director, SFH, said it was supporting Niger Government to distribute 3.7 million ITN to households and create awareness on the nets to ensure it got to everyone in the state.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
An NGO, Society for Family Health (SFH), says it has trained over 10,000 girls of between 15 and 19 years on various vocational skills in Sango-Ota area of Ogun to make them self-reliant.
The SFH Programme Manager in the state, Mr Ibrahim Hamza,, said this during the training exercise on Tuesday in Sango-Ota,Ogun. Hamza said that the NGO had surpassed its target of 3,000 limit since its commencement in March.
According to him, it is A360 Economic Empowerment Optimised Project, implemented by SFH and funded by Total Energies, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) and other partners.
Hazmat said that the empowerment programme, involving the intervention of adolescent girls within the age of 15 to19 years, was aimed at improving uptake of voluntary conceptive among adolescent girls.
He said that the project, which commenced in 2016 across the country, was in phases and would run through July at Sango-Ota and environs.
“There is the need to properly mentor and provide the young girls with appropriate vocational skills so as to be self-reliant, as they are more vulnerable to societal influence,” he said.
According to him, there are facilities in nine different communities where the empowerment programmes were being done in phases.
Hazmat said that the girls had been trained in vocational skills, such as make-up and tying of gele as well as production of liquidity soap and air freshner, among others.
He listed the nine facilities used for the training to include: Ado PHC 1, Ewupe PHC 2, Ilupewo PHC 3, Abule-Iroko PHC 4, Ifelagba PHC 5, Ifelewa PHC 6, Agbara PHC 7, Ibgbesa PHC 8 and Iloye PHC 9.
Hazmat said that the organisers had employed mobilisers who would interact and introduce the empowerment scheme to young girls.
He said that those interested in the programmes were given referral letters to the “young provider” who began to counsel them.
Hamza added that some women were also educated on how to train their children in order to make the society a better place.
Miss Taiwo Alatise, one of the beneficiaries of liquid soap making, commended the organisers, saying that the programme would impact positively on the lives of the young girls.
She said that the proceeds from the soap would be used to assist her parents toward furthering her education.
Another beneficiary, Mrs Abibat Fatoye, promised to use the communication skill acquired from the programme to educate her children effectively.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
The Society for Family Health (SFH) says its project, Lafiyan Yara, has tested no fewer than 440,272 people in eight Taraba local government areas to control the spread of HIV and AIDS in the state. Speaking at a ceremony in Jalingo on Friday to mark the end of the four-year program that began in 2019, SFH State Program Director Dr. Aisha Dadi explained that of that number, more than 1,081 children have tested positive for HIV testing, of which more than 1,020 children were linked to treatment. “The project registered 142 people living with HIV who started antiretroviral treatment in the last quarter of the project phase. “The implementation ensured that all pregnant women were tested and that positive mothers were enrolled for effective management to increase maternal and child survival. "The number of children and pregnant women currently undergoing treatment showed a marginal drop of 14 per cent and 21 per cent respectively," he said. He explained that Lafiyan Yara (Child Welfare) was a proof of concept project funded by Aidsfond (2019-2022) through SFH and the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife Institute of Public Health. She revealed that the project was implemented in collaboration with the State Ministry of Health and the Taraba State AIDS Control Agency since 2019. In his remarks at the event, Taraba Health Commissioner Dr. Innocent Vakkai praised the partners for facilitating the trial. He said that the state government would continue to support relevant agencies to improve the health care system in the state. The Galadima of Muri, Alhaji Tukur Abba-Tukur, also praised the program's implementing agencies, especially SFH, for the level of awareness created among the people of the eight local government areas who benefited from the program. He assured the agencies of a sustained campaign of clarification and mobilization of the communities to always support such activities. NewsSourceCredit: NAN
The Society for Family Health (SFH) says early detection of will reduce infant, child and maternal mortality.
Dr Omokhudu Idogho, Managing Director, SFH, said this at a dissemination meeting on the SFH Lafiyan Yara project, in Abuja.
The SFH Lafiyan Yara project is funded by AIDSFONDS to implement the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV, and provide HIV testing services in eight LGAs of Taraba.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the project is leveraging community intervention mechanisms to provide the services.
Idogho said that it was important to increase access to antenatal care to eliminate new infant infections.
“Similarly, for instance, improved linkages between informal and formal health structures in Taraba state amplify finding of new HIV positive cases.
“It also increased antiretroviral uptake, increased the number of virally suppressed women and children living positively, invariably reducing mortality among target groups,” he said.
According to him, it is also important to educate the people on better health-seeking behaviours and encourage them to seek health services to reduce mortality.
“Contact between caregivers, direct beneficiaries and health workers can lead to an increase in knowledge and motivation to adopt positive behaviours,” he said.
The SFH managing director said when reinforced by influencers within communities and homes, beneficiaries and caregivers become increasingly motivated to adopt socially acceptable HIV prevention and treatment.
Dr Garuba Danjuma, Director-General, Taraba AIDS Control Agency, said that the state has HIV prevalence of 2.9 per cent, the highest in the northeast and fourth highest in the country after Akwa Ibom, Benue and Rivers.
Danjuma said that antenatal care attendance was 44.5 per cent, lower than the average for the northeast geopolitical zone of 62.4 per cent.
“The estimated proportion of the population that are pregnant women and children below 15 years old in the state is five per cent and 41 per cent, respectively.
“Drivers of the HIV epidemic include norms that promote multiple concurrent sexual partnerships, low-risk perceptions, low awareness of HIV and poor literacy rates.
“Also, the Family Life and Health Education impact evaluation study showed that the sexual debut for girls in the state is 12 years.
“This contributes to the high rate of teenage pregnancy in the state. Likewise, there is low awareness of mother-to-child transmission of HIV,” he said.
He stated that the state had to host significant number of internally displaced persons from crisis-ridden states because of its relatively stable security situation.
“There was limited or no donor-funded HIV interventions happening in Taraba when the Lafiyan Yara project started, leaving a gap in the continuum of care for HIV.
“The last intensive intervention for HIV was the Sure-P funds for scaling up the treatment of which ended in 2017,” the D-G said.
According to him, this has resulted in large number of undiagnosed people living with HIV including children and pregnant women.
In her remarks, Dr Akudo Ikpeazu, Head of National AIDS and STIs Control Programme, Federal Ministry of Health, said Nigeria accounts for 24 per cent of pregnant women living with HIV worldwide not on antiretroviral therapy.
She added that it was also the largest contributor among the seven countries that account for half of all new HIV infections among children globally.
Ikpeazu, who said one in every seven babies born with HIV in the world is a Nigerian baby, assured that government was doing everything possible to change the narrative.
Mrs Aisha Dadi, Programme Manager, SFH, said the broad objective of the project was to ensure that pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and children had access to quality HIV services.
Dadi said Lafiyan Yara project use patent and proprietary medicine vendors, traditional birth attendants and village health workers to identify, refer, link and track beneficiary populations to health facilities.
Dr Olujide Arije, Research Fellow and Consultant Public Health Physician, Institute of Public Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, said the impact evaluation used a minimum sample size of 430 women who have delivered in the last 12 months in Taraba.
Arije said that the researchers used existing community structures in promoting active HIV case-finding among children less than 15 years and pregnant women.
The study recommended the bridging of knowledge gap on mother-to-child transmission of HIV, strengthening community health responders, encouraging behaviour change and removing barriers to HIV testing..
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
The eHealth Africa says it has provided nutrition and reproductive health services to over one million pregnant and lactating women, children, and adolescent girls in Kaduna state.
Dr Aminu Abubakar, the Project Director, eHealth Africa-Accelerating Nutrition Result in Nigeria (ANRiN) Project, said this in Kaduna at a town hall meeting with community stakeholders to review progress.
He said the services were provided under the World Bank-supported ANRiN project, between May 2021 and May 2022, surpassing the first one year target.
Abubakar said the project, through a mix of counseling and service delivery, aimed to increase utilisation of quality and cost-effective nutrition services for pregnant and lactating women, adolescent girls, and children under five years.
According to him, eHealth Africa is delivering an integrated community-based Basic Package of Nutrition Services (BPNS) and Adolescent Health Services (AHS) in 12 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state.
Abubakar identified the LGAs as Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Chikun, Kajuru, Kagarko, Kachia, Kaura, Jaba, Zangon Kataf, Jema’a, Sanga, and Ikara.
He said that out of the more than one million beneficiaries, 237,432 children, 12 to 59 months, were provided with deworming services, 224,633 children, six to 59 months, reached with Vitamin A supplement.
Abubakar said 91,669 children, six to 23 months, were reached with micronutrient powder, while 88,808 children, six to 59 months, were reached with services.
He said 2,490 adolescent married women were reached with long-acting reversible contraceptives and 23,857 others with short-acting reversible contraceptives.
The project director further said that 120,000 pregnant women were reached with iron folic acid, 50,979 pregnant women reached with malaria drugs and 178,606 others reached with maternal, infant, and young child nutrition counseling services.
According to him, the goal of the town hall meeting is to bring beneficiaries and key stakeholders to review progress, challenges and lessons learned.
“The meeting also provides an avenue for dialogue to deepen collaboration with stakeholders and generate feedback from beneficiaries to inform future planning,” he said.
ANRiN Project Coordinator in the state, Dr Zainab Muhammad-Idris, said that eHealth Africa and Society for Family Health (SFH) were contracted in 2021 to provide Basic Package of Nutrition Services (BPNS) and Adolescent Health Services (AHS).
Muhammad-Idris said that the services were being provided at community levels to increase the utilisation of quality, cost-effective nutrition services for pregnant and lactating women, adolescent girls, and children less than five years.
According to her, the objective is to reduce chronic malnutrition, maternal and child mortality rates and in the long run, increase school completion, performance and improve labour force productivity.
“I am happy to say that eHealth has been able to exceed its set target for the first year of the project in terms of the number of beneficiaries it was expected to reach.
“Also, our monitoring visit to some of the communities confirmed the quality of services eHealth Africa is providing across the 12 LGAs. This is quite commendable,” she said.
Mr Kabiru Jari, Chairman, Kaduna South Local Government, thanked ANRiN project for providing the crucial nutrition services for women and children.
Jari, who was represented by Mr Nehemiah Karik, the vice chairman, pledged to support nutrition activities with the release of one million Naira every month for nutrition intervention in the LGA.
One of the beneficiaries, Mrs Hadiza Harisu, of Agbakpa Kaduna North LGA, said that she benefitted from family planning services, iron folate acid and micronutrient powder for her twin children. (
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
The Pharmacist Council of Nigeria (PCN) has sealed up no fewer than 25,000 illegal pharmaceutical premises in eight years.
Dr Elijah Mohamed, Registrar of the council, made this known on the sidelines of the Public Presentation of his Scorecard on Wednesday in Abuja.
Mohammed said the premises were sealed due to poor documentation, poor hygienic environment, non regularisation of papers and inappropriate and unethical behavior or conduct.
The registrar said “the scorecard is an account of my stewardship as registrar of PCN from June 2014 to June 2022.
He further disclosed that before he was appointed eight years ago, there were 17 pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences faculties in the country, however, eight years after, the number of faculties have increased to 30, some will kick-start in the next few months.
“The illegal pharmaceutical premises that we closed down within the past eight years are over 2,5000 across the federation.
“They were closed down due to various reasons including poor hygienic environment, poor documentation, improper regularization of papers and improper behaviours in the shops and premises,” he stressed.
Speaking on achievements he said the PCN is in charge of the control and regulation of the pharmacy education, training and practice.
“In education, we have been able to put in place a new programme which is Doctor of pharmacy which combine both clinical and non-clinical concept of pharmacy practice.
“Before now, the practice was product focused, but now it is patient focused. What that means is that whether you are in production, sale, distribution or dispensing of drugs, the patient is the focus and what impact it is going to have on our patient and with that concern, everybody is sitting up now to ensure that whatever product is coming out, the patient is paramount.”
Mohammed further noted that some of the challenges the PCN was confronted with within the past eight years were that human resources and infrastructure.
“We don’t have enough human resources, two; is infrastructure, we don’t have enough vehicles to go round to monitor and carry out enforcement across the community,” he noted.
He, however, applauded regulatory agencies including NAFDAC, the Nigeria Police Force and the others for their cooperation and support over the years.
“The Federal Ministry of Health have been very wonderful in our operations. They have been giving us all the policy support. The judiciary has also been supportive in terms of dispatch of cases,” he said.
On his part, the Chairman of the PCN, Prof. Ahmed Mora, applauded the outgoing Registrar for putting together the scorecard saying that his efforts in mobilizing development partners to support the activities of the Council made the difference.
While describing Mohammed as a very lucky person, Prof Mora, said: “One of the many things that he excelled as Registrar is his relationship with Development Partners.
“The capacity building programmes initiated by these partners have been wonderful. Indeed, the Development Partners were to some extent deeply immersed in the implementation of the mandates of the Registry.
“Today’s programme, which is with the full support of Society for Family Health (SFH) and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is one of such commendable collaborations for which the Council is very appreciative.” (
(NAN)
Managing Director of the Society for Family Health (SFH), Dr. Omokhudu Idogho, has said that although he is inspired by women, a woman's strength is not equal to a man's weakness.
Idogho said this while marking International Women's Day (IWD) 2022 with SFH staff and journalists during a roundtable discussion on the issue and campaign slogan for IWD on Tuesday in Abuja.
The theme of International Women's Day 2022 is "Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow".
According to Idogho, he does not feel threatened, saying that strong women are not too self-sufficient and need people.
“They are not so independent that they don't want love or a partner with whom to share their lives. Strong women don't take roles away from men in their lives.
“They don't overshadow or hinder a man's ability to grow, be strong, or love.
“They cannot subdue or diminish the men around them, in and out of a relationship.
“It is high time that we as Nigerians stop seeing women who feel strong, powerful or bold as women who cannot be loved with the same tenacity, as women who bully, as women who outshine men. because that is not the truth at all.
“We are strong when we build each other up, when we encourage each other to be strong, when we stand alongside our counterparts and are empowered, rather than threatened,” he said.
Idogho, however, called for a society in which women are not repressed, while urging Nigerians to break down prejudice and transform their communities.
He said the 2022 campaign theme, "Breakthebias," highlights individual and collective prejudice against women that fuels gender inequality.
The managing director added that, whether deliberately or unconsciously, the bias makes it difficult for women to advance.
"Women are strong. Women are clever. Women are light. Women are refuge. Women are love. Women are the force of society.
”Happy International Women's Day to all women who impact with their ability. We celebrate you,” she said.
The managing director pointed out that the formation of SFH should guarantee everything in its power to break the prejudice against women.
"As an organization, we believe and know that many things that set women back over the years are rooted in patriarchal notions, from one generation to the next," she said.
She said that SFH remains committed to breaking down those biases to transform very structurally, in a systemic way, those notions that hold women back.
“We join like-minded minds around the world to push the boundaries of what is possible.
“We envision a world where every girl and woman should feel truly empowered and at the peak of their power to be the best they want to be.
"And their families, communities and our country will benefit," he said.
Deputy Director General, Strategy/Programs, SFH, Dr. Jennifer Anyanti, advocated that the Federal Government step up the empowerment of women in rural areas and promote healthy lifestyles in the country.
Anyanti said the government needs to take advantage of what has been done in sexual and reproductive health, among others.
She said that the protection of women is important, but it is vital that they also focus on empowering them.
According to her, women are strong and powerful, but protection is not always about avoiding physical threats.
"It should also involve defending them morally, the social mindset of the people around them," he said.
Anyanti said these are genuine problems that warrant a consistent and concerted societal effort to address them, stating that divisive approaches would only undermine the intent.
“Women make up half of the workforce in processing and commerce, often in low-skilled, low-paid seasonal jobs without adequate labor, health or safety rights,” she said.
Anyanti also highlighted the extent to which COVID-19 had shown that protecting healthcare workers was key to ensuring a functioning healthcare system and society.
He said insecurity had exposed health workers, especially women and their families, to unprecedented levels of risk.
reports that IWD is celebrated every year on March 8 around the world to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
The day also marks a call to action to accelerate gender parity, as envisioned in Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
