Bayelsa, UNICEF Sign Partnership Agreement On Healthcare, Nutrition Services

 

The Bayelsa State Government on Thursday signed a three-year rolling work plan with the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) to enhance health and nutrition services in the state.

The work plan, which also covers advancing child protection systems, improving social policy, as well as social protection mechanisms, is expected to run from 2025 to 2027.

Speaking shortly after signing the partnership agreement on behalf of the State Government in Yenagoa, the Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, disclosed efforts were underway to pass the state Health Bill into law to address critical challenges affecting healthcare delivery in the state.

According to him, the law when operational will enable the state to meet most requirements of UNICEF, including the allocation of one percent of the Annual Budget of the state to primary healthcare.

The Deputy Governor commended UNICEF for developing the workplan, saying it will serve as a veritable framework for effective evaluation of the success and challenges of the agency’s programmes in the health sector of the state.

Underscoring the importance of human resources in the healthcare delivery system, he said government would retain a significant number of the health workers co-opted into the GAVI Project which had ended.

Senator Ewhrudjakpo, who noted that government was taking steps to review its nutrition policy, assured UNICEF of the present administration’s commitment towards addressing the issues of child protection, expansion of the Bayelsa Health Insurance Scheme to cover community health insurance, and the removal of cultural inhibitions to health and nutritional services.

His words: “On behalf of His Excellency, Senator Douye Diri, the Governor of our state, I want to express our most profound gratitude and appreciation to the UNICEF for this project in the state, South South and the country. We are not taking it for granted that Bayelsa is chosen for this purpose.

“Over the years, UNICEF and other partners have been giving us a shot in the arm to stretch our capacity to reach our rural areas. UNICEF has always concentrated in the areas of child survival, and quality of life. They have always emphasized education, health, nutrition, social protection and policy review over the years.”

Speaking earlier, the UNICEF Port Harcourt Chief of Field Office, Dr Anslem Audu, said the multi-year work plan represented a collective resolve to advance the rights and well being of children and women in Bayelsa State through strategic investments in health, nutrition, child protection and social policy initiatives.

Dr Audu, who thanked Governor Douye Diri for his dedication to the welfare and survival of children in the state, pointed out that Bayelsa was the only state in the South South privileged to sign the work plan with the World Bank.

He expressed the confidence that UNICEF’s partnership with the state government would strengthen systems, build resilience and ensure sustainable outcomes in the state.

Amid other requests, the UNICEF representative, however, urged the state government to allocate one percent of its budget to primary healthcare to ensure quality health services to at least 70% of its population.

On nutrition, he solicited: “Commitment and release of the Child Nutrition Match Fund for procurement of commodities to prevent and treat malnourished children, and approval of the extension of the six-month paid maternity leave.”

In his opening remarks, the Commissioner for Health, Professor Seiyefa Brisibe, noted that the signing of the work plan marked a significant milestone in government’s partnership with the UNICEF.

Professor Brisibe expressed gratitude to the UNICEF for the technical and funding support it provided with other international partners and donors such GAVI, which had strengthened the health system of the state.