Kaduna State Govt,UNICEF Launch Integrated Healthcare Outreach In Mashe Community.
By Umar Faruk Tukur
The Kaduna State Government in collaboration with UNICEF, has launched an integrated mobile healthcare outreach in Mashe community, Igabi Local Government Area, aimed at providing essential medical services to residents with limited access to healthcare facilities.
The outreach which was held on Wednesday at Afaka Ward, brought healthcare services directly to the community, with focus on women, children and other vulnerable groups.
Speaking during the exercise, the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of the Kaduna State Ministry of Health, Habiba Abubakar, said the intervention formed part of ongoing efforts to improve healthcare access in hard-to-reach communities across the state.
Abubakar said Mashe was identified as a zero-dose settlement with low immunisation coverage, making residents vulnerable to preventable diseases.
According to her, the outreach includes nutrition services, malaria treatment, tuberculosis screening and health education aimed at improving public awareness and service utilisation.
She described the turnout as encouraging, attributing the response to effective community mobilisation involving religious and traditional leaders.
Also speaking, a UNICEF representative from its headquarters in New York, Dinesh Agrawal, described the initiative as an effective model for delivering healthcare services to underserved populations through mobile facilities.
He said the partnership between government, communities and development partners was already yielding positive results.
In their separate remarks, the Village Head of Tsohuwar Mashe, Luka Mashe, and the Women Leader of the community, Mrs Nike Okedere, expressed appreciation for the outreach, describing it as the first of its kind in the area.
They said residents previously travelled long distances of about 18 kilometres to access healthcare services, and called for the establishment of a permanent health facility in the community to ease access to medical care.