The visit offered officials of the Agency and their stakeholders opportunity to fine-tune the prograame where necessary to facilitate smooth implementation for expected outcomes.

The five-year programme which started in 2022 is expected to end in 2027 to improve the quality of maternal health care delivery in the region.

As part of expected outcomes, observed by the team, the training had equipped participants with skills to effectively care for pregnant women and their newborns, prevent unnecessary interventions while ensuring lifesaving actions.

It promoted collaboration among stakeholders to champion reproductive health and rights issues to improve maternal health care delivery in the region.

Mrs. Adjoa Yenyi, a Programme Specialist, Adolescent and Youth Development at UNFPA, emphasised that improving access to care was critical in the country.
She observed that the training programme had ensured that midwives working in various health facilities in the region made good and healthy maternal deliveries to save mothers and their newborn babies.

The team later visited Alhaji Shani Alhassan Saibu, Northern Regional Minister, who expressed joy
with the improvement of the skills of the midwives towards the provision of quality maternal health care delivery in the region, supported by the UNFPA.
He expressed gratitude to the UNFPA for its support and urged the UN Agency to continue with its collaboration with the government to ensure all midwives were educated to the highest standards to enable them practice to their full scope.

A beneficiary of the training, Madam Jemilatu Mahama midwives at the Mion District Hospital, spoke to the GNA and said the UNFPA maternal health capacity building training programme focused on a midwifery model of continuity of
care.

She said the programme had so far provided some solutions to transform midwifery education in the community to health personnel and community members, adding that the training had enabled them to work effectively in a multi- disciplinary team to ensure quality health care services for both the mothers and their babies.

She said the skills acquired from the training had guided midwives to perform all signal functions of emergency maternal and newborn care to optimise the health and well-being of mothers and newborns.

Mr. Adam Mohammed, a Health Volunteer on maternal health care at Sang in the district, said the community awareness creation engagement on maternal health care delivery supported by UNFPA, enhanced his education on the importance of pregnant women visiting health facilities for checkup, adding he consistently enlighten pregnant women in communities to visit health facilities for antenatal care.