On 8 September 2026 residents of Babban Dodo in Zaria Local Government Area gathered for a town hall meeting on their primary health centre, hosted at HC Salmanduna. The agenda was wide: maternal and child health, the services the PHC offers, family planning, HIV, hepatitis and genotype screening, abuse prevention and community participation. One item kept coming back: the building itself needed renovation.
Bringing patients’ observations to the Health Secretary
The LHAAT citizen journalist introduced the ICSA programme and presented what the team had heard from patients about the challenges affecting service delivery. The Zaria LGA Health Secretary, Dr Hauwa Mahmood, ward development committee members and community representatives then worked through the concerns and possible solutions together.
The Health Secretary reported that renovation of the PHC had already been included in the 2026 local government budget. Community representatives agreed to document further PHC concerns and submit them through the Health Secretary for action.
From advocacy visits to a budget line
The town hall followed several advocacy visits by the Executive Director of the Initiative for Integrated Governance and Economic Sustainability (IIGES), Alh. Dr Mustapha Jumare, and the LHAAT team to the Health Secretary and the Zaria Local Government Chairman, Alhaji Ahmad Muhammad Jamil, in which the challenges facing Zaria’s PHCs were laid out facility by facility. Both agreed to work on the issues presented.
Renovation work has now commenced at PHC Babban Dodo. A letter requesting the provision and repair of essential equipment at all the apex facilities under the ICSA project in Zaria LGA is being forwarded to the LGA Chairman through the Health Secretary.
We have to work together with the health workers and the government to fix what is wrong with our PHC and to use the services that are there.
A community representative at the Babban Dodo town hall (paraphrased from the meeting report)
Based on the town hall report by Usman Mustapha, LHAAT citizen journalist, IIGES, Zaria LGA (September 2026).
