Vaccination: Dangote, Gate Foundations, Others Support Children in Three States
Vaccination: Dangote, Gate Foundations, Others Support Children in Three States
The Dangote and Gates foundations, in collaboration with Community Reorientation Women Network (CROWN), giving support of lifesaving vaccinations for over 20,000 children, and linked over 50,000 pregnant women to antenatal services in six states across the north.
While addressing a press conference in Kano on Thursday, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Foundation, Zouera Yousouffou, explained that CROWN had galvanised over 5,000 ambassadors, placing them in the women collectives, to provide key messages to caregivers, as well as identify children and women needing services.
According to her, the group has already conducted a pilot outreach in 39 wards across three states, out of the six identified states, with the network of ambassadors and facilitators.
Yousouffou, who has given a keynote message with focus on the CROWN concept and its objectives, introduced the board members, and spoke to the vision of the future.
She said CROWN was a volunteer-based women collective committed to advancing human development indices in the most remote areas.
According to her, “Our entry point has been health but we are consolidating and plan to expand to education and nutrition.
“These women will be supported with economic empowerment schemes that builds on the crafts they are interested in ensuring that this is a wraparound support that empowers the woman and benefits her family.
“We have implemented pilots in a few wards across some states including Kano, Sokoto and of course Bauchi where we started. And we have started to see the promise that this holds in improving immunization uptake, preventing malnutrition and linking over 190 thousand families to essential health services.
“With this proof of concept established, we recently incorporated CROWN as a grassroots entity, and yesterday, inaugurated the Board of Trustees here in Kano to help steer this initiative and keep us true to cause.
Former director with Gates Foundation with decades of experience supporting immunisation and health in Nigeria, Violaine Mitchell, explained, “ We have walked through communities with these women and seen the many creative ways they are influencing caregivers, and empowering each other on voluntary basis.”
“Our entry point has been health but we are consolidating and plan to expand to education and nutrition,” Igbokwe said.
Chief Executive Officer of SCIDaR, Uche Igbokwe, said CROWN was a volunteer based women collective committed to advancing human development indices in the most remote areas.
