By Philip Yatai
The Kaduna State Government with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has upgraded the capacity of 10 health facilities to screen blood for emergency transfusion to patients.
Mr Shinkut Sheyin, the State Implementing Partner for UNFPA Projects at the Planning and Budget Commission, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Tuesday.
Sheyin said that the goal was to avert deaths caused by blood-related issues, especially during emergencies.
He said that UNFPA procured and distributed essential blood screening reagents and consumables to nine secondary health facilities and one tertiary health facility.
He explained that the 10 facilities would serve as hubs for screened blood servicing other nearby facilities.
“This has resulted in the upgrade in the capabilities of the 10 public health facilities to screen blood and make them readily available for emergency blood transfusion to patients.
“We will follow-up with the facilities to document beneficiaries in terms of deaths averted from this support,” he said.
The state implementing partner also said that the UNFPA had supported the state government to improve population data management and utilisation.
He further said that the knowledge and skills of 46 Health Information Management System and Monitoring and Evaluation Officers were improved on Electronic Data Quality Assessment (EDQA) across the three senatorial districts.
Sheyin added that the operationalisation of EDQA was now possible at the local government level, adding that this would enable analysis and generation of reports for decision making.
“ The LGAs have already commenced the process of taking ownership of the EDQA,” he said. (NAN)
