By Umma Kaltume Ahmad
Three years ago, Kaduna State’s health sector faced challenges familiar across many parts of Nigeria: overstretched health facilities, shortages of skilled personnel, rising maternal and child mortality, recurring disease outbreaks, and unequal access to quality healthcare between urban and rural communities. While progress had been made over the years, the demands of a rapidly growing population required a new level of investment, innovation, and political commitment.
When Governor Uba Sani assumed office in May 2023, his administration embraced a simple but ambitious vision, which is to build a health system that delivers quality, affordable, accessible and people-centred healthcare to every resident of Kaduna State, regardless of where they live.
Three years later, that vision has steadily taken shape. Across the state, modern hospitals are rising, primary healthcare centres are being revitalized, emergency medical services are responding faster than ever before, disease surveillance has become more robust, frontline health workers are receiving better support, and millions of residents have benefited from life-saving public health interventions. The transformation extends beyond infrastructure; it represents a deliberate effort to build a resilient health system capable of meeting today’s needs while preparing for tomorrow’s challenges.
Investing in World-Class Health Infrastructure
Perhaps the most visible symbol of this transformation is the commissioning of the state-of-the-art 300-bed Specialist Hospital by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The hospital represents far more than a modern building; it is a strategic investment in the future of healthcare delivery in Kaduna State.
For many years, patients requiring specialised medical care often travelled to Abuja, Kano, Lagos or even outside the country at considerable financial and emotional cost. The new Specialist Hospital significantly expands Kaduna’s capacity to provide advanced diagnostics, specialist consultations, complex surgeries and critical care closer to home, reducing unnecessary referrals while strengthening the state’s position as a regional centre for quality healthcare.
Equally important has been the administration’s sustained investment in upgrading secondary health facilities where 16 have been completed. This is in addition to the revitalization of 255 primary healthcare centres across the state. Furthermore, Three World class pharmagrade warehouses have been constructed and equipped to ensure safety and quality standards of our drugs and medical supplies are ensured. Through extensive rehabilitation, renovation and equipping health facilities, communities that previously struggled to access quality healthcare are increasingly finding improved services closer to where they live.
Revitalizing Primary Healthcare: The Foundation of Universal Health Coverage
Every strong health system begins with strong primary healthcare. Recognising this, Governor Uba Sani’s administration has prioritized the revitalization of Primary Health Care Centres as the first point of contact for most citizens. Across Kaduna State, facilities are being upgraded with improved infrastructure, modern equipment, essential medicines and better working environments for healthcare providers.
One of the administration’s most significant achievements has been the recruitment of approximately 1,800 primary healthcare workers who were subsequently migrated to the CONMESS and CONHESS salary structures. Beyond improving remuneration, this reform restored morale, enhanced retention of skilled personnel and strengthened service delivery across frontline facilities.
For patients, these reforms translate into shorter waiting times, improved continuity of care, better maternal services and more reliable healthcare within their own communities.
Saving Mothers and Newborns Through Targeted Investments
Reducing maternal and newborn deaths has remained one of Governor Uba Sani’s highest health priorities.
Through the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII), Kaduna State has implemented far-reaching interventions aimed at ensuring that no woman dies while giving life and every newborn has a better chance of survival.
Primary healthcare centres have been equipped with neonatal corners, while selected secondary health facilities have received substantial upgrades to improve emergency obstetric and newborn care. Modern medical equipment, strengthened referral systems, skilled birth attendance and continuous capacity building for health workers are improving the quality of maternal and neonatal services across the state.
These investments are helping create safer pregnancies, safer deliveries and healthier beginnings for thousands of Kaduna families.
Building a Modern Emergency Medical Service
Medical emergencies rarely give warning. Recognizing that timely response often determines whether a patient lives or dies, the Kaduna State Government established the Kaduna State Emergency Medical Services and Ambulance System (KADSEMSAS).
Today, advanced life-support ambulances, equipped with modern emergency equipment and staffed by trained personnel, are significantly improving emergency response throughout the state. Whether responding to road traffic crashes, obstetric emergencies, medical emergencies or other critical incidents, KADSEMSAS is reducing delays in accessing life-saving care while strengthening public confidence in emergency medical services.
Behind every ambulance deployment is a family whose chances of survival have improved because help now arrives faster than before.
Winning the Fight Against Preventable Diseases
While hospitals treat illness, public health prevents it.
Governor Uba Sani’s administration has demonstrated that investing in prevention remains one of the most cost-effective ways of improving population health.
Kaduna State has implemented one of Nigeria’s largest Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention campaigns, protecting 2,108,611 million eligible children against malaria during the rainy season. In addition, more than 4.3 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets have been distributed to households across the state, helping reduce malaria transmission and protect vulnerable populations. Furthermore, 2,628,432 children aged 1–59 months have been administered with Azithromycin to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with common childhood respiratory and diarrhoeal diseases.
The state’s disease prevention efforts extend far beyond malaria. Routine immunization has continued to receive strong support, while coordinated responses to outbreaks including diphtheria, cholera and other epidemic-prone diseases have demonstrated the state’s growing capacity to rapidly detect, investigate and contain public health threats.
Mass drug administration campaigns against neglected tropical diseases, strengthened tuberculosis control programmes, improved HIV services and expanded nutrition interventions further demonstrate a health system increasingly focused on prevention rather than simply responding after illness occurs.
Strengthening Disease Surveillance and Health Security
The COVID-19 pandemic reminded the world that health security is national security.
Determined to ensure Kaduna State is better prepared for future public health emergencies, Governor Uba Sani established the Kaduna State Centre for Disease Control (KDCDC), providing the institutional framework needed to strengthen disease surveillance, epidemic preparedness and emergency response.
Working closely with local government authorities, development partners and healthcare facilities, KDCDC is enhancing outbreak detection, laboratory coordination, rapid response mechanisms and public health intelligence. These investments enable faster identification of emerging threats and more coordinated responses that save lives while protecting communities.
Harnessing Technology to Improve Healthcare
Healthcare is increasingly driven by information. Kaduna State has embraced digital innovation through the gradual deployment of Electronic Medical Records in health facilities, reducing dependence on paper records while improving continuity of patient care, clinical decision-making and health information management.
The administration has also strengthened routine health information systems and data-driven planning, enabling policymakers to make better decisions based on timely and reliable evidence. Improved logistics systems and stronger pharmaceutical supply chains are equally reducing stock-outs of essential medicines, ensuring that patients receive the treatments they need when they need them.
Building Partnerships That Deliver Results
No government transforms healthcare alone. One defining feature of Governor Uba Sani’s administration has been its ability to cultivate productive partnerships with development agencies, international organisations, civil society groups and the private sector.
These partnerships have accelerated progress in maternal and child health, disease control, health systems strengthening, nutrition, emergency preparedness and healthcare infrastructure.
Recognition Earned Through Results
The progress achieved in Kaduna has attracted recognition at both national and international levels. The state has received commendation for strengthening disease surveillance, improving primary healthcare, enhancing pharmaceutical supply chains and implementing innovative health programmes. These recognitions are more than awards; they affirm that Kaduna is increasingly becoming a model for evidence-based health sector reform and reinforce confidence among development partners and investors.
A Reform Agenda Focused on People
Ultimately, health sector reforms are not measured by the number of buildings constructed or policies adopted. Their true measure lies in the lives they improve. For the expectant mother delivering safely in a renovated primary healthcare centre, the child protected against malaria through seasonal chemoprevention, the accident victim rescued by an emergency ambulance, the patient receiving specialist treatment closer to home, or the community spared from an infectious disease outbreak through effective surveillance, these reforms are not statistics they are life-changing realities.
This human-centred approach has distinguished Governor Uba Sani’s health agenda. By investing simultaneously in infrastructure, human resources, technology, emergency preparedness and preventive healthcare, the administration has pursued comprehensive health systems strengthening rather than isolated interventions.
Sustaining the Momentum
Like every health system, Kaduna continues to face challenges. Population growth, increasing demand for specialised services, sustainable financing, evolving disease patterns and the need for continuous workforce development require ongoing attention.
Yet the foundations established over the past three years provide every reason for confidence. Stronger institutions, revitalized primary healthcare, expanded emergency services, improved maternal care, enhanced disease surveillance, digital innovation and sustained public health investments have positioned Kaduna State on a trajectory towards achieving Universal Health Coverage.
The journey is not complete, but the direction is unmistakable
Healthcare transformation is rarely achieved through dramatic moments. It is built through consistent investments, thoughtful policies and unwavering commitment to the well-being of citizens. Governor Uba Sani’s administration has demonstrated that when leadership places people at the centre of governance, meaningful change becomes possible.
Across Kaduna State today, healthier mothers, safer children, more confident health workers, better-equipped hospitals and stronger public health institutions stand as enduring evidence that purposeful leadership can transform lives one community, one facility and one patient at a time.
Umma Kaltume Ahmad is the Honourable Commissioner for Health, Kaduna State.
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