Centre expands emergency transport plan

The Centre for Communication and Social Impact (CCSI) has intensified community emergency transport planning across Kaduna to improve access to skilled maternal healthcare and reduce preventable maternal and newborn deaths significantly statewide.

The initiative, implemented through the Faith and Cultural Champions (FCC) Project in partnership with the Ummulkhairi Foundation, seeks to address transportation barriers that often delay pregnant women from accessing emergency healthcare services.

The Newsmen report that the programme brings together traditional leaders, transport operators, healthcare workers and community volunteers to develop practical emergency transportation arrangements for pregnant women.

Speaking during a sensitisation programme in Panbeguwa, Kubau Local Government Area on Saturday, the General Manager of Ummulkhairi Foundation, Hajiya Maryam Yahaya, said the intervention would strengthen emergency response mechanisms locally.

Yahaya said delays in reaching healthcare facilities remained a major contributor to preventable maternal and newborn deaths, particularly in rural communities where access to reliable transportation remained severely limited.

She said the programme engaged community leaders, transport union officials and other stakeholders to encourage the development of sustainable community-based emergency transport arrangements for pregnant women facing childbirth complications.

“In many communities, women face serious risks because there are no immediate transport arrangements during labour or pregnancy-related emergencies.

“We are encouraging transport workers and community members to respond quickly whenever they are called upon to take pregnant women to health facilities,” she said.

According to her, the initiative forms part of broader maternal health interventions being implemented under the FCC Project to improve birth preparedness, referrals, antenatal care attendance and safe delivery outcomes.

She said the project was being implemented in Kubau, Zaria, Lere, Chikun and Kagarko Local Government Areas, where communities were being mobilised to support maternal healthcare and emergency referrals.

FCC Project Consultant, Malam Abubakar Ibrahim, said the initiative was designed to strengthen community ownership of maternal health interventions through active participation by transport workers and grassroots stakeholders.

Ibrahim said delays in reaching health facilities remained one of the three major factors contributing to preventable maternal and newborn deaths, especially among women living in underserved rural communities.

He explained that transport union members were being encouraged to identify motorcycles, tricycles, taxis and other vehicles that could be mobilised quickly during labour and pregnancy-related emergencies.