The Kano State Led Accountability Mechanism (KanSLAM) has collaborated with media organisations to promote family planning and improve maternal, newborn, and child health services in the state.
Daily News 24 reports that the collaboration was highlighted during a sensitisation meeting on Saturday with heads of various media organisations in Kano. The engagement aimed to strengthen collaboration, enhance accurate public awareness, and encourage positive behavioural change toward family health in the state.
READ ALSO: KanSLAM pays advocacy visit to Kano Hospitals Management Board
KanSLAM Co-Chair, Pharm. Maimuna Yakubu Muhammad, said the coalition is committed to supporting the government by closing gaps in both funding and technical resources for reproductive and maternal health services. “There is a need for us to support the government by helping to close gaps in resources, whether financial or technical,” she said.
“Partnering with the media will help drive public understanding of child spacing and ensure that funds allocated for maternal health are released and used effectively.” She explained that KanSLAM, which includes civil society, media, academia, and government representatives, tracks fund utilisation and ensures that services reach the communities that need them.
Dr. Musa Muhammad Bello, a member of KanSLAM and medical doctor at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, presented data showing that Kano faces serious challenges in maternal health. “Complications during pregnancy and childbirth remain the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age,” he said, noting that Kano’s population of over 16 million, combined with high fertility and low contraceptive use, puts significant pressure on health services.
KanSLAM audits of 38 health facilities revealed that from April to December 2015, 144 women died out of 111,236 deliveries. In 2016, over 600 deaths were recorded, partly due to a health workers’ strike. Most women who died were referred from other hospitals, highlighting weak referral systems and shortages of life-saving drugs. Dr. Bello also pointed out gaps such as inadequate health workers, insufficient maternal drugs, low awareness, minimal male involvement in family planning, and poor water supply in hospitals.
Family planning, commonly referred to as child spacing in Kano, was emphasised as a critical way to reduce maternal deaths. Dr. Bello said low access to contraceptives leaves many women without the care they need. “In 2016, only 3.5 percent of women who needed contraceptives received them, while 16.5 percent did not,” he explained. He added that the growing population of Kano makes improving access to family planning even more urgent. KanSLAM also highlighted successes from community support and philanthropy, including ambulances, renovated labour wards, improved laboratory services, and solar-powered maternity units in hospitals.
KanSLAM member Safiyanu Lawal Bichi warned that Kano’s 2025 health budget is inadequate and that actual releases of allocated funds are declining. “In 2025, the state budgeted 109 billion naira for health, which means only 6,725 naira per person for the year. Primary healthcare received 11.4 billion naira, which is just 702 naira per resident,” he said. He added that reproductive health and childbirth spacing received only 500 million naira, while family planning was allocated 2.6 billion naira. “These amounts are far from enough for about 16 million people, and actual fund releases are falling,” Bichi said, noting that child spacing funds dropped from full release in 2022 to zero in 2023 and 2024.
He called on the government to prioritise timely funding, involve men in family planning, and combat misinformation.
The group also recommended massive recruitment of health workers, stronger partnerships with traditional and religious leaders, a sustained supply of free maternal and child health drugs, and continuous sensitisation through the media to improve maternal, newborn, and child health services, reduce maternal deaths, and enhance family planning and child spacing across the state.
Media executives present at the meeting pledged to support KanSLAM in advocating for better funding and ensuring that health allocations are fully released and properly utilised. They also pledged to create more awareness on family planning and maternal health, and to keep the government on its toes to ensure that allocated funds are effectively used to reduce maternal deaths and improve family planning services across the state.
