From Promise to Progress: EU‑SARAH Strengthens Access to Reproductive Health in Adamawa, Kwara & Sokoto. By Raymond Enoch

When government officials, partners and development agencies gathered in Abuja this week, the mood was anything but routine. Under the banner of the EU‑SARAH initiative, focused on bolstering reproductive and adolescent health, states including Adamawa State, Kwara State and Sokoto State stood tall — presenting hard data, strong results and a shared vision of leaving no one behind.

Across the states, the signs of change are unmistakable. In Adamawa, for instance, the programme is already set to benefit 75,000 adolescent girls annually, alongside millions of children under five, pregnant and lactating mothers — a game‑changer for reproductive, maternal and adolescent health in the region.

Meanwhile, in Kwara, health‑system strengthening is underway: frontline workers are being trained, new logistics systems are being deployed, and the state government has reaffirmed its commitment to sustaining uninterrupted access to family planning and maternal care services.

At the heart of it all is a commitment — by governments, communities, and international partners such as UNFPA Nigeria and UNICEF Nigeria — to move beyond rhetoric and deliver real, tangible outcomes. As one health‑worker put it: with EU‑SARAH, “we are turning promises into lifelines.”

The question isn’t whether the programme will succeed — it already is. The real work now: scale up. Sustain. Save lives.