The Kaduna State Government has expressed readiness to domesticate the National Self Care Guidelines as a strategy towards enhancing Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for sexual reproduction and maternal health.

Speaking at a workshop preparatory to the domestication of the National Guideline on Self Care for Sexual Reproductive and Maternal Health for Kaduna State organised by John Snow Incorporated (JSI) and other partners, Dr Abubakar Sadiq Idris, Director, Public Health, in the Kaduna State Ministry of Health, said the self-care policy essentially was supposed to help individuals and people in the community to improve their health.

He said it would help people improve their health in terms of awareness, health promotion, take steps to prevent the occurrence of diseases, as well as improve their health-seeking behaviour in the state.

Joy Aungwa, a director in the Federal Ministry of Health, said Lagos was the first state that domesticated the guidelines and that it was helping the health workers and individuals with healthcare needs peculiar to the state.

Also, Jennifer Adebambo, the Country Manager for Partnership and Collaboration, as well as the Self Care Focal Lead for the Society for Family Health, said the National Self Care Guidelines being domesticated in Kaduna State would continue to expand the contraceptive needs of the country and ensure that women had a choice and capacity to be enabled to manage their own healthcare system.

Dr Francis Ojemu of the International Rescue Committee said that self-care had helped immensely in the crisis context in places like the North Eastern part of Nigeria and some parts of the North West where banditry had affected healthcare facilities.

Gbenga Ishola, Team Lead for the Self Care Accelerated Project (S-CAP Project) for JSI, expressed delight that the project was coming to fruition in Kaduna State.