Emir Sanusi advocates traditional rulers’ role in maternal, child health

Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has advocated the critical role of traditional leaders in checking the growing rate of maternal and newborn mortality in Northern Nigeria.

The Emir equally queried the cultural and societal attitudes that tend to degrade women and female children as critical concerns in the region.

Sanusi, former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, disclosed this at the opening of the 1st International Conference on Sustainable Population Health, organised by the Africa Center of Excellence for Population Health and Policy, Bayero University, Kano.

The Emir stressed that apart from putting women at the centre of health, traditional rulers have the responsibility to know the number of pregnant women and the population of children born in their domain.

Worried about the number of children left by their parents roaming the streets uncatered for, Sanusi insisted that policy and concerned authorities should address the attitude of husbands getting married to several wives and giving birth to children they can’t manage.

“To check the rising rate of maternal and child death, the government needs to work with traditional rulers to generate data on the number of pregnant women and newborn babies, the number of deaths, and the level of immunisation in their domain.

“Until we can put all these indices together, we will not be able to focus on the challenges at hand. Again, we need to check our attitudes. What is our cultural attitude towards women and female children? As a society, have we taken the important attitude towards our wives?

“Should we allow multiple populations we can’t manage? Should we allow a man to marry many wives that he cannot manage? If you can’t afford to care for a child or a wife, why must you marry?” Sanusi said.

A keynote speaker, Professor Aliko Ahmed, who stressed the need for adequate health policy and politics to check mortality, regretted the alarming rate of maternal and newborn child mortality in Nigeria.

According to a global health diplomat, 770 Nigerians die daily from poor health management that ought not to challenge the population.

Director of the Center, Professor Hadiza Galadanchi, said the centre has recorded impressive achievements since its establishment in 2019, including introducing five new postgraduate programs, such as PhDs in Public Health, and training over 274 postgraduate students from various African countries.

She said, “Our research has yielded positive results in areas like anaemia during pregnancy, and I am confident that we will continue to be a leading hub for population health in Africa and beyond.”

While speaking on behalf of the Vice Chancellor of BUK, Prof. Sagir Abbas, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Academics, Sani M. Gumel, stressed the significance of the conference in improving the general health status of the people.

He added, “This conference is a testament to the dedication of our university community and a step towards advancing global health challenges in Africa.”