At AOP, CHR, YOSPIS, Others Ramp Up Advocacy for Healthcare Development in Kano, Secure Quick Wins
As the Kano State Ministry of Health wrapped up its 2022 Annual Operation Plan (AoP), held in Kaduna last week, the Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR), Youth Society for the Prevention of Infectious disease and Social Vices (YOSPIS), Kano State Led Accountability Mechanism (KanSLAM) and the Accountability Mechanism on Maternal Newborn and Child Health in Kano State (AMMKaS) have influenced the inclusion of key ideas that will foster the development of healthcare in the state.
According to the participating organizations, it was an opportunity to have a one on one with Chief Executive Officers and other heads of agencies who call the shots on the health sector in the state to drive salient and reasonable action points that would ordinarily have taken months to achieve in the development circle.
“This will drive our advocacies and areas of intervention faster as against the norm of lobbying on issues endlessly,” Zainab Nasir Ahmed, the new Executive Director of the Youth Society for the Prevention of Infectious Diseases and Social Vices (YOPIS), told Arewa Agenda online.
“For us at YOSPIS, we joined to promote and advocate for youth and adolescents’ health interventions and programmes as well as greater participation and inclusion of youths in all government’s planning and meetings and the outcomes were favourable. This would have ordinarily taken longer to achieve given a different circumstance,” she explained.
Buttressing Zainabs point, Salisu Musa Muhammad of CHR, explained that the aforementioned organizations specifically engaged the Executive Secretary (ES), Kano State Primary Health Care Management Board (KSPHCMB), Dr. Tijjani Hussain of two key activities in the AoP to ensure transparency and accountability.
“We are able to influence the insertion of a quarterly meeting with stakeholders to review service delivery to Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF) which will include us, the PHCMB and facilities in charge.”
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“They have activity for supervision visits to HFs which we also requested that CSOs be included after so many back and forth, we had an agreement in addition, we were also able to create a connection for YOSPIS and the Kano State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (KSCHMA), for their participation as youth voice,” Muhammad explained.
He revealed further that that more engagements with the ES, KSPHCMB and the ES KSCHMA resulted to the ES directing the Program Implementation Unit (PIU) of the BHCPF to approve for all the 131 Primary Health Centers (PHCs) that are ready to start spending their BHCPF National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) gateway.
“These 131 PHCs already received the BHCPF NPHCDA gateway funds but were not allowed to spend, because the board is waiting for the other facilities to be ready with their cheque and other issues, but after our advocacy that the facilities that are ready should be allowed to begin, the ES agreed, we, in collaboration with AMMKaS and KANSLAM will follow up to ensure the letter of approval to spend is being sent to all the 131 PHCs by next week,” he assured.
Also speaking on the quick wins, Salisu Yusuf of AMMKaS explained that their engagement with the ES led to an agreement to engage the state legislators in making them understand the concept of the Minimum Service Package (MSP), “he even committed to making the presentation and directed that the agency’s director of planning include us in the MSP team.”
For the Executive Director of YOSPIS, the establishment of a relationship with KACCHMA, Kano MNCH, and Nutrition Coordinator for a youth seat on the table as a youth led organization to promote more youth inclusion and adolescent health, is a big win for the organizations great leap.
“We also got connected with the Kano primary Healthcare Board (KnPHB), on how the youth friendly centers work which we understand that there is one center per each LGA in the state and how YOSPIS can intervene to make it better and functional.”
Also on the sidelines, all the organizations also seized the moment to engage the Honourable Commissioner of Health Dr Aminu Ibrahim Tsanyawa where they advocated for the functionality of the State Basic Healthcare Provision Fund Oversight Committee and the participation of NGOs and Youths in oversight and implementation.
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