By Nnedinma Okeke :
The National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) has held a one-Day engagement visit to the Anambra State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (ASPHCDA)
The visit was to intimate the Agency on the Resilient and Sustainable System for Health (RSSH) grant from Global Fund (GF) which is sponsoring NACA of which also Anambra State is a beneficiary.
The four thematic areas under the RSSH grant include; Community Systems Strengthening and Integrated Service Delivery/Quality Improvement (CSS & ISD/QI), Health Information Management Systems (HMIS), Laboratory Systems and Product and Supply Chain Management (PSCM).
The Executive Secretary, ASPHCDA, Dr Chioma Ezenyimulu expressed gratitude to the team for its keen interest in Anambra while assuring them of the state’s support in the project.
The team lead and Programme Coordinator RSSH, Mr John Adedoyin noted that their activities were supported by Global Fund which intends to focus on HIV, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria.
According to him, the essence of the relationship is to ensure that the state is able to implement activities without support and to be able to attract funds and use it in carrying programmes that woul solve its problems.
Speaking on the Community Systems Strengthening and Integrated Service Delivery/Quality Improvement (CSS & ISD/QI), Mr Adedoyin noted that they would be working with the Community Health Influencers, Promoters and Services (CHIPS) Programme.
“Here, we expect the state to select and train the CHIPS personnel while we pay them stipends and introduce sustainability components that will enable the CHIPS to run on its own once the RSSH project is over.
“The CHIPS has been instrumental in identifying outbreaks of some emergencies of which the health sector then begins a follow-up,” he explained.
On Health Information Management Systems (HMIS), the team lead stressed that there would be a lot of work with respect to Quality Assurance (QA), where there were also plans to purchase Android tablets for submitting of reports automatically.
On Laboratory Systems, he noted that they were working to develop a system where all laboratory can report data of tests conducted. This he said will aid the state in planning and projections.
Mr Adedoyin also speaking on Product and Supply Chain Management (PSCM) said they work with the National Product Supply Chain where they want to achieve a revolutionary feet in respect to product supply in Nigeria.
“This will be by supporting states to have a Drug Management Agency,” he explained.
The Programme Officer, National Emergency Maternal and Child Health Intervention Centre (NEMCHIC) of National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Mrs Victoria Azodoh explained that they would be engaging the state in quality assessment.
“This means that we will be accessing the Primary Health Centres (PHCs) to ensure that services rendered are of good quality.”
The Technical Specialist, CSS & ISD/QI and NACA, Mr Fahad Umar Basa explained that part of the support they would render was towards employing the Ward Development Committees (WDCs) to do their quarterly meetings.
“This would help in highlighting details at the end of the work.
“Respectful Maternity care is also one of the areas we will be supporting and Anambra State will benefit from that.
“Also, we will be supporting Integrated Supportive Supervision (ISS) which is a key component of service delivery,” he emphasized.
The Project Manager, National Product and Supply Chain Management Project (NPSCMP), Mrs Frances Okosi said that they have collaborated with GF at the Federal level and donors to ensure the Procurement and Supply Chain Management (PSM) sector was taken care of.
“In the past few years has there been a clamour for sustainability on the government plan of the PSM, so we were asked to come up with a strategy of sustainability of which at the moment we have a PSM Strategy 2021 to 2025.
“The modern model that is been proposed for sustainability and government leadership is the Drug Revolving Fund (DRF) model, where there is also an Agency – the Drug Management Agency – that can integrate all PSM activities.
“In the area of PSM, currently under the RSSH grants, we have support for data validation BI- monthly, quarterly PSM team meetings and Integrated Monitoring and Supportive Supervisory Visits (MSSV).
“Going forward, Anambra State is marked for warehouse upgrade which is going to be huge as there will be an increase in warehouse capacity and storage capacity,” she added.
The RSSH Project Coordinator, State Ministry of Health (SMOH), Mr. Ugochukwu Chukwulobelu said that the state was going to give the work plan its best and ensure that a robust outcome is achieved.
“While developing the work plan, we will ensure to breach all gaps and challenges. We know Global Fund cannot give us everything, so we will also work towards sustainability,” he said.