Jigawa Charged To Work With CSOs On Public Health

Jigawa State government has been urged to strengthen its engagement with community-based organisations (CBOs), civil society organisations (CSOs) and other stakeholders to enhance primary healthcare service delivery with effective community participation and ownership.

This was contained in a paper presented at a one-day media engagement organised by the Civil Society Working on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (ATM) in Nigeria supported by various partners such as GF/NACA, ATM, RSSH and C19RM.

In his presentation, the state programme officer, Mr Abdul-Azez Ibrahim, highlighted that, in the cause of implementing their projects at the selected local government areas of the state, they engaged and mentored CBOs and CSOs on the role they are expected to play in promoting access and accessing basic healthcare services delivery.

“We built a strong synergy between community members and facility healthcare workers through this initiative.

Consequently, the CBOs have supported numerous projects at the facilities, and many casual staffs were also deployed to the facilities.

“The CBOs have also advocated and supported various activities at the facilities, such as repairing dilapidated floors and roofs, providing seating materials, repairing broken windows and other problem-solving at the facility level.

“Through the implementation of the grant, a solid foundation was established to ensure the integration of HIV, TB, and Malaria funding from both Government and partners for pragmatic and sustainable improvement in fighting against the diseases.

“Therefore, it is evident that promoting and strengthening community partnership in healthcare services delivery is key to achieving state and national public healthcare policies. In view of that, we advocated for state and non-state actors to champion this cause,” Ibrahim stated.