Kaduna State government has challenged local government chairpersons to make the survival of mothers and children a defining measure of their performance in office.
It stressed that improved primary healthcare services were essential to reducing preventable deaths in rural communities.
At a Primary Health Care (PHC) Dialogue in Abuja, themed “Strengthening PHC Systems: A Joint Leadership Dialogue,” the deputy governor of Kaduna State, Dr Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe, urged the 23 local government area (LGA) chairmen to see healthcare delivery as a leadership responsibility rather than a routine administrative function.
Balarabe said the true impact of governance should be measured by improvements in citizens’ health and well-being.
She challenged the council chairpersons to focus on ensuring that primary healthcare facilities are equipped with essential medicines, clean water, adequate staffing and functional equipment.
“I challenge you today to ask yourselves: ‘What will be the legacy of my tenure?’ Will it be measured only by the centres I renovated? Or will it be measured by the number of mothers who stayed alive to raise their children because I ensured the PHC facility in my wards had water, essential medicines, equipment, staff and dignity?” she said.
The deputy governor noted that strengthening primary healthcare goes beyond infrastructure development and directly affects the lives of vulnerable residents.
“When we talk about strengthening primary healthcare, we are not talking about bricks, mortar, or cold statistics. We are talking about the mother in a remote ward in Giwa who is in labour at 2 a.m. We are talking about the infant in Zangon Kataf whose life depends on a single vial of vaccine,” she added.
Balarabe emphasised that local governments occupy a strategic position in healthcare delivery because they are closest to the communities that need services most.
She said while state governments formulate policies, local authorities determine whether those policies translate into meaningful interventions that improve health outcomes.
Also speaking, Deputy Director for Policy Advocacy and Communications at the Gates Foundation, Ekenem Isichei, described local government chairmen as critical drivers of healthcare progress.
“Primary healthcare is delivered in communities, and that is why you, LGA chairpersons, are not just administrators—you are champions of health outcomes for your people,” he said.
Isichei called on the chairpersons to strengthen governance structures, ensure transparent disbursement of health funds and closely monitor indicators such as immunisation rates and maternal health outcomes.
Similarly, Officer-in-Charge of UNICEF’s Kaduna Field Office and Chairman of the Health Partners Forum in Kaduna, Idris Baba, said strengthening primary healthcare remains the most effective pathway to improving the state’s health indicators.
“For us to make any positive movement in the right direction around our health indicators, primary healthcare must be strengthened,” Baba said.
He reaffirmed the development partners’ commitment to supporting Kaduna State’s health sector reforms and expanding access to quality healthcare services.
On his part, Co-Chair of the Kaduna Accountability Mechanism for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (KADMAM), Garba Muhammad, highlighted the importance of citizen participation and accountability in sustaining gains in the health sector.
Muhammad said civil society groups would continue monitoring the use of public health resources to ensure investments in healthcare result in improved services and better outcomes for residents.
