The Inclusive Family Planning (IFPLAN) project in Kaduna State has equipped more than 1,500 health workers with skills to provide disability-inclusive family planning services to improve access for persons with disabilities across the state.

The five-year project, funded by UK Aid and implemented by Sightsavers in collaboration with the Kaduna State Government and several disability organisations, closed out on Monday in Kaduna.

Speaking during the closeout ceremony, Sightsavers Programme Director NTDs, Anita Gwom, said the training of service providers was one of the project’s strongest achievements.

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“We trained 1,500 service providers in disability inclusion, and 97 per cent of them reported improved knowledge and confidence,” she said. According to her, these improvements are already helping to remove long-standing barriers that people with disabilities face in accessing family planning services.

She explained that the health workers were trained in respectful communication, use of assistive tools, sign-language basics, and tailored counselling approaches.

She added that these skills are essential for ensuring that clients with disabilities can make informed decisions about their reproductive health.

Gwom said the training was backed by upgrades in 23 health facilities where ramps, clear signage and accessible consultation rooms were installed. “These achievements are not just numbers. They represent real lives changed, real voices amplified, and real barriers removed,” she said.

In her remarks, the Kaduna State Commissioner for Health, Ummah K. Ahmed, said the retraining of health workers has strengthened trust between service providers and persons with disabilities.

She noted that many clients had previously avoided health facilities due to stigma, poor communication and inaccessible buildings.

“Training healthcare workers to provide disability-inclusive, respectful and confidential services has reshaped attitudes,” she said. “Our vision is to build a health system where inclusivity is not a project but a culture and a standard.”

The commissioner said the state would continue to sustain the gains recorded through the project, adding that the health ministry is committed to institutionalising inclusive practices across all its programmes.

The National President of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JANAPWD), Abdullahi Aliyu Usman, said many health facilities were still not fully accessible but commended the progress made in training frontline workers.

“Most health facilities are not accessible to persons with disabilities,” he said. “But we are happy with the training of over 1,500 health workers on inclusiveness, and we urge Sightsavers to continue so that more persons with disabilities can benefit.”

The IFPLAN project also conducted accessibility audits in 24 health facilities and reached more than 544,000 persons with disabilities with family planning information through community interventions. Over three million people without disabilities were reached with stigma-reduction messages through radio and digital platforms.