The Bauchi State Government says it has intensified efforts to increase enrolment into science secondary schools as part of measures to encourage more students to study health-related courses and strengthen the state’s healthcare workforce.
The Commissioner for Health and Social Welfare, Sani Mohammed Dambam, disclosed this during the commemoration of the 2026 International Day of the Midwife, organised by the Bauchi State Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the State Primary Health Care Development Board, with support from the United Nations Population Fund, held at the Aliko Dangote College of Nursing Sciences.
Dr. Dambam said the study of science subjects remains the foundation for students seeking admission into health-related courses in higher institutions.
According to him, the state government is encouraging more young people to take up health professions in order to address the growing demand for midwives and other healthcare workers in health facilities across the state.
He added that the state government has also reintroduced the pre-service scheme to support students undergoing training in health institutions.
In a statement marking the 2026 International Day of the Midwife with the theme, “One Million More Midwives, Four Million More Lives Saved,” the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, Diene Keita, noted that women in labour stand a better chance of safe delivery and improved newborn survival when attended to by skilled midwives.
The statement explained that educating, deploying and retaining one million more midwives would transform health systems and improve millions of lives globally.
It added that midwives remain central to safer and more equitable healthcare by providing essential sexual and reproductive health services and other forms of care that support women’s wellbeing.
UNFPA described midwives as the backbone of health systems and called for urgent investment in their education, leadership and protection to expand the global midwifery workforce.
The organisation noted that the theme of this year’s celebration highlights the urgent need for an additional one million midwives globally by 2035, adding that achieving the target could help save more than four million lives annually.
Through the Midwifery Accelerator Coalition, UNFPA said it is supporting several countries, including Nigeria, to develop evidence-based investment cases that promote midwifery models of care tailored to local realities.
Similarly, the UNFPA Resident Representative in Nigeria, Muriel Mafico, during a ministerial press briefing in Abuja, said Nigeria requires about 70,000 additional midwives to meet World Health Organization standards by 2030.
She said UNFPA values its partnership with the Nigerian government and the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria in strengthening the midwifery workforce through pre-service education, curriculum development and support for training institutions with equipment, updated library resources and laboratories.
According to her, other areas of support include emergency interventions in humanitarian settings, integration of Minimum Initial Service Package and psychosocial first aid training into pre-service education, digitalisation of accreditation management services, mobile learning and youth-friendly healthcare services.
UNFPA also called for greater investment in innovative technologies and diagnostic tools to strengthen the skills and decision-making capacity of midwives for safer and more effective healthcare delivery.
During the event in Bauchi, the UNFPA Gender and Reproductive Health Analyst, Deborah Tabara, guided more than 80 student midwives to download and begin learning with the Safe Delivery App, a mobile learning platform developed in collaboration with Maternity Foundation.
The Safe Delivery App was developed under the 10 Million Safer Births Initiative launched by UNFPA and Maternity Foundation, and is currently being implemented in two states in Nigeria.
The application provides midwives and birth attendants with on-demand guidance in key areas of maternal and neonatal healthcare and can also function offline.
About 80 student midwives downloaded the application on their phones and pledged to share it with colleagues in other institutions.
