The Kaduna State Government on Monday reiterated its commitment to strengthening disability-inclusive healthcare services as the Inclusive Family Planning (IFPLAN) project, implemented by Sightsavers, officially concluded in the state.
Speaking at the close-out meeting held at Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Hall, Murtala Muhammed Square, the Commissioner for Health, Umma Ahmed, said the project had reshaped approaches to equity, access, and dignity in the state’s healthcare delivery.
She explained that the IFPLAN initiative aimed to ensure that Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) could access family planning services without fear, barriers, or discrimination, adding that no society can claim progress while leaving any segment of its population behind.
The commissioner highlighted key achievements of the project, including the training of healthcare workers on disability-inclusive, confidential, and respectful family planning services. She said the training improved provider attitudes, strengthened communication, and built trust between health workers and clients with disabilities.
According to her, the project also provided essential assistive devices such as wheelchairs, artificial limbs, hearing aids, and learning aids, which removed physical and communication barriers that had previously hindered access to care.
Ahmed added that health facilities were renovated and newly constructed to include ramps, accessible consultation rooms, clear signage, and other disability-friendly features. She also highlighted the development of a Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Policy for PWDs, describing it as a landmark framework to guide actions and strengthen accountability for their wellbeing.
She noted that the close-out of the project marked the beginning of a greater responsibility for the state to sustain and scale its gains, stressing the need to institutionalize the lessons across the entire health system.
“Our vision is to build a health system where inclusive is not a project but a culture, not a pilot but a statewide and national standard,” she said.
The commissioner commended Sightsavers for its leadership, technical expertise, and commitment, noting that the partnership demonstrated how government, communities, and development actors could work together to achieve lasting change.
Earlier, the Programme Director for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) at Sightsavers, Anita Gwom, said the five-year project trained 1,500 health service providers on inclusive healthcare. She added that the project reached more than 1,900 people with disabilities through community-level interventions and provided family planning information to over 544,000 PWDs.
Gwom also noted that the project delivered stigma-reduction messages through radio and digital campaigns to more than three million people without disabilities across the state. She explained that, as part of efforts to strengthen health systems, accessibility audits were conducted in 24 health facilities, followed by renovations in 23 of them.
She added that disability desk officers were deployed across all 24 local government health authorities and in 23 project-supported facilities, while eight persons with disabilities now sit on health committees.
It was reported that the project, funded by UK Aid and led by Sightsavers, was implemented in collaboration with BBC Media Action. Other partners included the Kaduna State Government, the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD), PENDA, and the Network of Women with Disabilities.
