The United Nations International Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF), says it is collaborating with some development partners and Sokoto State Government to enrol 5,000 vulnerable persons into a contributory health scheme in the state.
The UNICEF Chief of Field Office in Sokoto. Mr Mohameden Fall stated this at the opening of a four-day capacity building for state enumerators on Social Protection and Health Insurance, on Thursday in Sokoto.
Fall said the programme was aimed at assisting people who for reasons such as poverty, disability, and other vulnerabilities cannot support themselves health wise.
He said vulnerable persons from Silame, Bodinga and Rabah local government areas are expected to benefit in the first phase of the programme.
He explained that the program would target no fewer than 5,000 individuals including pregnant women, children under five, adolescent girls, people with special needs and the elderly.
According to him, the capacity building signifies the commencement of the joint effort by UNICEF, ILO, UNDP, and WPP to assist the state in attaining Universal Health Coverage.
Also, Dr. Almustapha Danjuma, a planning and monitoring specialist with UNICEF, said the training would enlighten the facilitators on how to identify and enrol people with special needs from various communities, to benefit from the scheme.
He urged the participants to equip themselves with the knowledge, for effective collation of the data of prospective beneficiaries.
Also, Malam Isa Ibrahim, a facilitator, explained that the training was part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), designed to run for two years, with Sokoto selected among the pilot states.
Ibrahim said the programme would improve social protection of vulnerable persons in the state.
According to him, the training will encourage coordination among government agencies towards achieving the goals of the National Social Protection Policy.
He said that the participants were drawn from all the 23 local governments of the state and some selected organizations.