Bauchi govt, NGO to collaborate on health, population issues

The Bauchi State government has promised to collaborate with development partners on health and population issues for effective policy formulation and development.

Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar disclosed this at the launch of Resources for the Awareness of Population Impacts on Development (RAPID) project in the state.

The project which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will be implemented by Health Policy Plus (HP+) over a period of five years.

He said the implementation of the programme was an opportunity being extended to the state by development partners for the state to tackle it’s challenges.

“This project will help us better understand the impact of population growth on our health indices in particular and healthcare delivery in general so that we can adopt strategies to overcome the challenges,” he said.

On his part, HP+ Country Director, Onoriode Ezire, said the rapid population increase in Bauchi state would compound the already existing challenges and there was need for the state to adopt various measures to create a favourable environment for development through effective child spacing measures.

He said RAPID project was an advocacy tool launched by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on the 6th of July, 2017 to raise the awareness of policy makers about the importance of fertility and population growth as factors in social and economic development.

Mr. Ezire who added that the state population was increasing at a rate higher than its economic growth, advised the state to reduce its fertility rate.