Given Promise, Country Lead NM-NTDs.
By Murtala Muhammad
A Non-Governmental Organisation, the Nigeria Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NM-NTDs) Youth Corps, has held a dialogue with Miri and Siyi communities in Bauchi and Ganjuwa Local Government Areas of Bauchi State to address malaria burden, which poses a threat to maternal and child health.
Speaking to journalists at Miri Primary Healthcare Centre, the Country Lead of Nigeria Malaria and NTDs Youth Corps, Gender Equality Fund Project, Mr Given Promise, said the initiative aimed to ensure accountability in health services—particularly malaria care—and promote female-led advocacy for gender equity in public health access.
He explained that after an assessment in the two communities, the group identified key challenges, including sociocultural beliefs and husbands denying women permission to access healthcare.
The Gender Focal Point for NM-NTDs, Ms Grace Atinuke Felix, who noted that malaria disproportionately affects women, especially during pregnancy, added that in many communities, longstanding sociocultural norms restrict women’s access to healthcare.
Ms Felix assured that the project was committed to addressing these barriers, ensuring women could seek medical care through dialogues, training, advocacy, and sensitisation campaigns for husband to change their attitudes in the target communities.
The National Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Officer and Bauchi State Coordinator for NM-NTDs, Rabi’u Abdulwahab, said the project had engaged about 300 households in Siyi community last year, teaching them to make homemade mosquito traps as a malaria prevention measure.
Meanwhile, the Bauchi State Gender Focal Point for NM-NTDs, Amina Bashir Tajuddeen, lamented the dilapidated state of Siyi’s health post, urging urgent intervention to prevent a potential malaria surge during the ongoing rainy season.
A resident of Miri community, Muhammad Sani Lekka, described the dialogue as an eye-opener, pledging that husbands would take necessary steps to reduce malaria prevalence, particularly among women and children.
Radio Nigeria learnt that the Gender Equality Fund Project, being implemented by the Nigeria Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NM-NTDs) initiative is funded by Global Fund through the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA).
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