By Uangbaoje Alex, Kaduna

The Kaduna State Government has equipped nine adolescent and young people’s health corners with recreational, educational and basic health equipment as part of a broader intervention to make primary healthcare facilities more youth-friendly.

The facilities, supported through the Global Affairs Canada (GAC/MAMII) intervention with UNICEF and other development partners, received equipment and maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) commodities aimed at improving access to information, counselling and essential healthcare services.

The package includes nine 55-inch smart TVs, nine smart home theatres, nine table-tennis sets, nine chess/checkers boards, nine Scrabble boards and dictionaries, and nine refrigerators.

The health corners also received 108 plastic chairs, 18 office chairs, nine lockers with keys, nine adult weighing scales, nine blood-pressure apparatuses and nine office tables.

Launching the intervention in Kaduna on Tuesday, Deputy Governor Dr. Hadiza Balarabe said the safe spaces were designed to give adolescents and young people access to health information, counselling and services in an environment that is confidential, respectful and free from stigma and discrimination.

She said adolescents were an important segment of the population and their health needs could not be treated as an afterthought.

“The true measure will be the number of women who receive better care, the number of newborns protected, the number of children who receive timely treatment and the number of adolescents and young people who are able to access appropriate health services without fear, stigma or discrimination,” Balarabe said.

She urged the Kaduna State Primary Health Care Board and beneficiary facilities to properly utilise and maintain the equipment, manage consumables judiciously and keep accurate records.

The UNICEF Chief of Field Office in Kaduna, Dr. Gerida Birukila, said adolescent health deserved priority because adolescence was a critical stage of human development, with implications for maternal health, mental health and the wellbeing of future generations.

Birukila said Kaduna had more than four million people within the adolescent age group, stressing the need to provide services that respond specifically to their needs.

The Commissioner for Health, Umma K. Ahmed, said the intervention complemented the state government’s efforts to strengthen primary healthcare and ensure that facilities had the equipment, commodities and personnel required to deliver essential services.

She urged managers of beneficiary facilities to ensure that the intervention translated into improved services and better health outcomes.

The Executive Secretary of the Kaduna State Primary Health Care Board, Prof. Bello Jamoh, said the intervention would help bridge identified gaps and improve the availability of adolescent-friendly and MNCH services.

He stressed that the value of the donated equipment would depend on proper distribution, utilisation and maintenance.

Representing the Gates Foundation, Dr. Anthony Shamang said the initiative was an investment in the future of Kaduna’s young people, mothers and children.

He said the health corners would provide safe spaces where adolescents could access vital health information and services while promoting openness around adolescent health.

The intervention also includes MNCH commodities intended to strengthen the capacity of the benefiting facilities to provide essential care to mothers, newborns and children.

Balarabe formally launched and flagged off the deployment, urging stakeholders to ensure that the intervention moves beyond the distribution of equipment to measurable improvements in healthcare delivery.

The initiative is expected to strengthen adolescent-friendly services while complementing Kaduna’s wider efforts to revitalise primary healthcare facilities across the state.