Global Affairs Canada, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund, has handed over 45 brand new motorcycles to the Bauchi State Government to strengthen the delivery of maternal, reproductive, and child health services in hard-to-reach communities across the state, addressing the critical challenge of geographic barriers that had left thousands of children without a single routine vaccine.
The motorcycles were officially presented to the state government through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare by UNICEF Chief of Field Office Dr. Nuzhat Rafique at a handover ceremony in Bauchi, where health officials, UNICEF representatives, and government functionaries gathered to mark the intervention.
Rafique explained that the 45 motorcycles, averaging two per local government area, were specifically intended to reach the most deprived communities where mothers, children, and adolescents faced both geographical and financial barriers to accessing health facilities. She described the intervention as part of a broader strategy to reach the last child, the last mother, and the last community in Bauchi, where thousands of children had never received a single routine vaccine and maternal and neonatal mortality remained among the highest in Nigeria and West Africa.
She noted that in Bauchi, where child marriage remained prevalent, many young mothers were particularly vulnerable and had little or no contact with formal health services, making community outreach by mobile health teams using the motorcycles critical to closing the immunisation and maternal health gap.
UNICEF Health Officer Seyi Olosunde explained that the motorcycles would enable immunisation teams to take an integrated approach to community outreach, travelling to remote areas accompanied by nurses and community midwives who could simultaneously deliver antenatal care, adolescent health services, and immunisation, thereby maximising the impact of each visit on multiple health outcomes.
The Commissioner for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Sani Mohammed Dambam, commended Global Affairs Canada for the support and assured that the motorcycles would be deployed strictly as directed by the donors, with accountability measures in place to prevent misuse. He warned end users that violations of usage guidelines would be dealt with firmly.
