AMMKaS Repositioned, Inaugurates 12-Man Steering Committee
The Accountability Mechanism for Maternal and Child Health in Kano State (AMMKaS), a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that focuses on using innovative accountability and transparency tools to improve health outcomes, has re-energized its organizational structure by inaugurating a 12-man steering group to support implementation of the Minimum Service Package (MSP) for Primary Healthcare in Kano State.
The 12-man steering committee members include Hajiya Hafsat Kolo, Abdullahi Zakari, Dr. Musa Muhammad Bello, Hajiya Habiba Mijinyawa, Nafisa Murtala Ahmad, and Nadiya Muftahu Garba.
Others are, Sulaiman Jalo, Lawan Muhammad Santali, Hassan Ibrahim Gama, Salisu Yusuf, Nura Ahmad Muhammad and Alhaji Tijjani Garba.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Wednesday, its Executive Director, Hajiya Hafsat Kolo said the move will strengthen AMMKaS to be on its feet towards achieving other goals in its six-months workplan and beyond.
While announcing that AMMKaS is now an officially registered organization through the effort of some of its volunteer members, Hajiya Kolo called on the newly inaugurated committee to continue their good work on behalf of the state.
“We have all worked together amicably without bickering since when we started as friends under PPMCH with no funding at the time and today we have recorded a lot of successes as a result of selfless contributions from each one of us. So, this sitting is in appreciation of our togetherness and in a way to reiterate that AMMKaS is back and strong.”
She appreciated the Coordinator of Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN), Dr. Aminu Magashi Garba and the Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR), for its role in promoting the initiation of AMMKaS.
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In his remark, Salisu Yusuf reiterated that the whole idea of the six-month workplan revolves around helping the state achieve the MSP in order to strengthen its primary health services.
He therefore explained that the committee will be engaged in advocacy visits to the state Primary Healthcare Management Board on the MSP implementation process and will also conduct a spot check of at least 12 of the over 1000 PHCs in the state to ascertain level of compliance in order to factually guide advocacy engagements with the state.
“We are looking at a lot of yardsticks and indicators which include minimum requirement of medical equipment’s, concurrent replacement of retiring health workers with fresh health graduates in each Local Government, ensuring compliance for minimum recommended number of staff and cadre for each type of health facility. The spot check will assess all this and take it up from there,” he said.
He further explains that the drive will include advocacy for the improvement of documentation process in PHCs, development and design of an MSP scorecard by February 2022 in order to guide on strength, weaknesses and areas to improve on in the facilities.
While taking a brief session on volunteerism, Hassan Ibrahim Gama pointed out that volunteerism is key to development and improvement of quality of lives of individuals in the society.
“Volunteerism is for the society most especially the masses because they don t have and it is volunteerism from people like you and me that makes them to get what they don’t, in essence, it ensures equality in life,” he stressed.
Commenting, Nura Ahmad Muhammad pointed out that a lot of young people in urban and rural communities in the state are passionate about health matters and suggested that it will be a great intervention by AMMKaS to organize an intervention with few youth organizations for meaningful engagement.
Dr. Musa Muhammad Bello who gave the vote of thanks appreciated the “energy, enthusiasm and commitment, to reactivate AMMKaS activities,” suggested the formation of a small active mobilization group that will be involved in proposal writings and engagement with stakeholders, which was immediately adopted.
He thanked Hajiya Hafsat Kolo for tireless efforts and visionary leadership of the organization, he also appreciated all members of the group for their commitment while thanking Dr. Magashi for his continuous support to AMMKaS.