The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has launched the neonatal component of its Comprehensive Emergency Obstetrics and Neonatal Care (CEmONC) programme in Kano State, providing free emergency services for mothers and newborns.
The initiative, announced on Monday, September 22, 2025, in a statement by Emmanuel Ononokpono, Acting Director of Media and Public Relations at NHIA, is part of a federal effort to improve maternal and child health outcomes and extend coverage to vulnerable groups.
Under the scheme, beneficiaries will have access to free life-saving services, including Caesarean sections, treatment for birth asphyxia, neonatal sepsis, neonatal jaundice, and other acute surgical emergencies.
The programme commenced in Kano with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between NHIA and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH).
Three other state-owned hospitals Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital, Mohammed Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital, and Khalifah Sheikh Isiyaka Rabiu Paediatric Hospital, have also been designated to deliver services under the scheme.
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According to NHIA, more than 200 facilities across Nigeria are already implementing the maternal component of the programme, which began in August 2024, with over 14,000 women having benefited.
Kano accounts for about 40 percent of the beneficiaries, with AKTH alone recording 972 cases, the highest in the country.
The authority said independent external verifiers have been engaged to ensure accountability and proper monitoring of the programme, which it described as critical to reducing maternal and neonatal mortality rates nationwide.