ACEPHAP Advances Sustainable Integration of Multiple Micronutrient Supplements into Maternal Health Services
In the past month, Africa Center of Excellence for Population Health and Policy (ACEPHAP) and Every Pregnancy strengthened efforts to promote sustainable access to essential maternal health interventions through a strategic stakeholder engagement on the integration of Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) into the State Drug Revolving Fund.
The engagement, implemented under the Scaling RMNCH Innovations in Humanitarian Settings initiative, brought together approximately 20 key stakeholders from government institutions, health management boards, nutrition teams and development partners, including Every Pregnancy, ACEPHAP, Pathfinder and Jhpiego.
A central focus of the meeting was the presentation and discussion of a strategy to institutionalize the provision of MMS for pregnant women through the State Drug Revolving Fund (DRF). The proposed approach is intended to strengthen government ownership and create a more sustainable mechanism for ensuring continued access to essential maternal nutrition commodities beyond donor-dependent implementation cycles.
Multiple Micronutrient Supplements represent an important component of efforts to improve maternal nutrition during pregnancy. However, achieving sustained population-level impact requires more than making commodities available through time-limited projects. It requires their integration into existing government financing, procurement and service-delivery systems.
Stakeholders therefore deliberated on opportunities for aligning the MMS intervention with existing state structures and ensuring that the approach remains sustainable, equitable and responsive to the needs of pregnant women.
The engagement also provided an important platform for government stakeholders, program implementers and partners to align priorities, strengthen coordination and build consensus around a pathway for long-term institutionalization of the intervention.
By facilitating these discussions, ACEPHAP continues to demonstrate its commitment to translating evidence-based RMNCH innovations into sustainable health-system solutions. The Centre remains committed to working with governments, health institutions and development partners to strengthen systems that can deliver high-impact maternal and newborn health interventions at scale.
The initiative represents an important step towards moving from project-based delivery to locally owned and institutionalized maternal health programming, ultimately contributing to improved access, continuity and sustainability of quality maternal health services for women in Kano State and beyond.
You can join the conversation on:
- Instagram: @acephap_buk
- LinkedIn: @acephap
- Facebook: @acephap
- X/Twitter: @acephap_buk
