From: Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin-Kebbi

Over 2,200 settlements  across the 225 wards in the 21 local government areas of Kebbi State are out of reach due to their locations in riverine and mountainous areas.

Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Umar Usman  Kambasa stated this, on Thursda,  during the launch of distribution of health equipment and emergency transport facilities to pregnant women and children in the state.

He noted that the situation in those areas had claimed lives of many pregnant women and children due to inaccessible roads to nearby hospitals.

In Kambasa’s words, “It is also worthy of note that out of over 4,000 settlements in Kebbi State, 55 per cent are hard to reach based on their locations in the riverine, mountainous, sandy areas or because of presence of gullies before to the settlements.”.

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The Commissioner disclosed that the state government was distributing drugs for the management of common ailments  such malaria, pneumonia diarrhoea, meningitis as well as delivery beds, ante- natal care, baby beds, among others.

He added that the state government was partnering with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) to reach out to areas that were not accessible with assistance from other relevant agencies.

In his remarks, Chief Field Officer of UNICEF in charge of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states, Mohammad Muhiddin,  disclosed that of 50 millions euro donated for the three states to care for child education and health, Kebbi State got the highest share of N4 billions.

He added that all the equipment UNICEF donated to health centres in the state were all imported from Japan, stressing that they were of good quality and could be sustain for a long time.

Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu,  in his remark, thanked the UNICEF and other partner agencies for their collaborations to ensure improvement in the health services in the state.