The Kano State Commissioner of Health, Dr Abubakar Labaran Yusuf, has directed that the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and training curricula of the Making Caesarean Section Safe in Kano (Safe CS) project be adopted across all secondary and tertiary health facilities in the state, following first-year results that showed a sharp fall in surgical site infections.
Dr Yusuf directed Mrs Mansura Yahaya, the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) Coordinator at the State Ministry of Health, at a dissemination meeting held on 9 October 2026 between the Africa Centre of Excellence for Population Health and Policy (ACEPHAP), the Ministry, and participating health facilities.
ACEPHAP implements the project in partnership with the Global Surgery Foundation (GSF). Its capacity-building efforts have enabled multidisciplinary hospital teams to provide higher-quality care to patients.
Dr Maryam Lawal Wada, Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) of the project, said adherence to the World Health Organization’s Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC) rose from 0% at baseline in June 2025 to 78.4% across 3,358 tracked caesarean sections. Over the same period, the rate of surgical site infections (SSI) fell from 9.2% to 4.8%.
In his opening remarks, Dr Yusuf commended Prof. Hadiza Shehu Galadanci, director of ACEPHAP, for her dedication to saving women’s lives in Kano, across Nigeria and throughout Africa, and for her efforts to improve the healthcare system. He said the results spoke for themselves, and reaffirmed that caesarean sections are life-saving procedures that, when performed correctly, can save many more lives in the state.
Prof. Galadanci said one of the project’s major achievements was the widespread adoption of the Surgical Safety Checklist, which she said had significantly reduced complications of caesarean section. She added that surgeons from other specialities have applauded the checklist and are beginning to incorporate it into their practice, and announced plans to extend the intervention to Jigawa State later this year.
She said the project supplied complete caesarean section sets, drape sets and a periodic supply of povidone iodine to all 10 participating facilities. It also carried out plumbing works at Sheikh Jidda General Hospital and installed sinks at Bamalli Nuhu Maternity Hospital.
Other equipment, including suction machines, patient monitors, autoclaves, air conditioners and oxygen concentrators, was distributed to the facilities in response to requests made in their quality improvement plans during a leadership training held at ACEPHAP in July.
Prof. Galadanci reported that more than 215 healthcare workers had been trained through step-down training sessions, and that 59 people from various multidisciplinary specialities received leadership training. She added that more than 500 healthcare providers had benefited from the project.
Representatives of the participating hospitals thanked ACEPHAP, GSF and the Kano State Ministry of Health for their support, and pledged their full commitment to building on the project’s successes.
