A total of 400 women volunteers who will form the volunteer support group known as Mama2Mama have been inaugurated and formally launched in Katagum LGA of Bauchi State.
The ceremony was held in the conference room of the LGA Secretariat in Azare on Tuesday by the Bauchi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (BASPHCDA) in collaboration with the Council.
The women volunteers are to support the activities of the agency in its efforts to have an effective and efficient healthcare service delivery to achieve the objectives of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in the state.
Speaking during the occasion, the wife of the Caretaker Chairman of the Council, who doubles as the LGA Gender Champion, Hajiya Sadiyya Haruna Mohammed, expressed pleasure to be part of the important event, which primarily aimed at improving healthcare delivery services through the identification of respected community mothers as agents of change in promoting reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child adolescent health across all the communities.
Represented by the Women Development Officer of the Council, Fatima Adamu, Sadiyya Mohammed said, “Let me use this opportunity to welcome you all to the launch of Mama2mama Support Group in Katagum LGA. The creation of Mama2Mama came at a better time because of increasing demand to address critical health services in the nooks and crannies of our communities.”
She added that, “Importantly, these mothers will help to address the two health-seeking behaviour delays experienced mainly by households or communities: the delay in the decision to seek care and the delay in arriving at or going to the health facility.”
The wife of the caretaker chairman explained that some of the key responsibilities of Mama2mam are to empower women through knowledge and capacity to make informed choices and decisions on their health and those of their children.
According to her, they work towards educating and referring women in the community to RMNCAH services, especially antenatal, hospital delivery, immunisation, and postnatal care, as well as other PHC-related services.
However, among the things they do is ensure access to maternal health services, including family planning, antenatal care at health facilities by skilled personnel, postnatal care, and providing guidance to mothers on nutrition services.
The group also provides assistance with preventative health services for all children in the community, including reaching out to all eligible children with routine vaccinations.
They facilitate women’s understanding of common illnesses and health services available at the health facilities, as well as coordinate women’s engagement in meetings, discussions, voicing their concerns, and empowerment, including gender equality in MNCH services.
“I would like to call all our people—husbands, mothers, carers, and all stakeholders—to grant the required support to the Mama2Mama agents because they were meant voluntarily to assist our communities,” she stressed.
She also stressed that they are community women identified and selected using criteria that include experience, their level of direct community engagement, demography, and the geographic relevance of their place of residence, so as to ensure health services are effectively delivered to the people at the grassroots.
According to her, “As Gender Champion of the local government, I have the honour to hereby launch the Mama2mama Support Group for the benefit of our communities and the promotion of health services.”
Earlier in his remarks, the Director of Primary Healthcare of Katagum LGA, Alh Jibrin Inuwa, said that the group has been working for a few years in the area, saying that the formal launch is just to ensure that the volunteers are recognised and their activities backed up.
He explained that they are to ensure that there is a serious check on gender-based violence against women and girls in order to ensure that such cases are reduced and effectively reported for action by the authorities.
A traditional ruler from the area commended the women volunteers for giving themselves to service even without receiving any stipend from the government.
He also commended the Caretaker Chairman, Musa Azare, for paying attention to the healthcare services of the people, saying that since he came, the Council has done tremendously well in effective and efficient healthcare service delivery in the area.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) expressed satisfaction with the performance of the women volunteers who are participating in the Mama2Mama volunteerism, which has improved access to healthcare services.
UNICEF assured that it will continue to support the Mama2Mama activities in the state to ensure that everyone who needs healthcare services, especially women and children, gets them without hesitation or gender discrimination.
State Health Educator, Hajiya Amina Bala, stressed in remarks the importance of volunteerism in achieving the set objectives of UHC through unhindered access to quality healthcare services across the LGA.
The health educator added that the Mama2Mama women volunteers are expected to ensure gender equality in access to quality healthcare service delivery across the LGA through sensitization and advocacy for men and women.
In a vote of thanks, the Chairman of Katagum LGA Wards Development Committees (WDC), Alh Azarema Adamu, commended the Council for always coming to the aid of healthcare services, assuring that WDC will continue to support effective and efficient healthcare service delivery.
