The 2023 World Health Organization (WHO) maternal and newborn health progress report indicated that Kebbi State in northern Nigeria has less than 25 percent coverage of skilled attendance at birth, with a 0.61 nurse/midwife per 10,000 population ratio. In order to meet the WHO recommendation of 58.98 nurses/midwives per 10,000 people, Kebbi State would require an additional 32,479 nurses and midwives to serve its estimated 5.6 million population. In 2021, the USAID/Nigeria Health Workforce Management (HWM) Activity conducted research in Kebbi State to identify the negative factors affecting the recruitment, deployment, attraction, and retention of primary health care (PHC) workers and thereafter worked collaboratively with the Kebbi State Government to address the related human resources for health (HRH) issues.

This technical brief describes the results of the HWM Activity’s work with the Kebbi State Government to commence Community Nursing and Community Midwifery pre-service training programs to increase and improve its PHC workforce. The Kebbi State Government leveraged the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) to close PHC workforce gaps. The government also established a functional State Health Workforce Registry (SHWR) to enable access to health workforce data for decision-making, which has improved HRH management through the development of strategic plan and policy documents.