The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Sokoto State Government have launched a Community Midwifery Scholarship and Bonding Scheme to train 500 young women from rural areas as community midwives. The program, announced at the 8th Sokoto State Council on Health, will award full scholarships to two cohorts of 250 trainees each, with enrolments slated for 2026 and 2027. Graduates are required to serve in underserved communities, expanding the pool of skilled birth attendants in the state.
UNFPA officials said the scheme aims to improve access to qualified maternal health services at the grassroots level. Sokoto Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto described the initiative as “timely and critical” for addressing persistent gaps in maternal and child health care. He highlighted the government’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the health workforce, including the deployment of more than 1,500 nurses and midwives under a mandatory rural posting policy.
State Commissioner for Health Faruk Umar noted that the scholarship will complement a broader recruitment drive for over 2,400 community health workers, intended to boost primary health care coverage across the state’s local government areas. The council meeting, convened after several years, provided a platform to review progress, identify systemic challenges, and align stakeholders toward universal health coverage.
UNFPA also reported that Sokoto’s recent investment of N30 million in child‑spacing commodities will be matched by N50 million worth of supplies from the agency, benefitting thousands of women of reproductive age. For 2026, the agency has earmarked more than N4.6 billion for Sokoto, ranking it among the highest‑funded states in its portfolio.
Health experts present at the meeting said the combined interventions—scholarships, workforce expansion, and commodity support—could reach tens of thousands of residents, particularly women and children in hard‑to‑reach areas. With hundreds of new midwives set to enter the system and thousands of health workers already deployed, officials expressed confidence that Sokoto is on track to improve key health indicators in the coming years.
