THE Federal Government has been called upon to further engage community stakeholders in pooling resources through community engagement to achieve more results at the primary healthcare centres (PHCs) across the country.
Speaking at a media roundtable on the Resilient System for Sustainable Health Development/COVID-19 Response Mechanism (RSSH C19-RM) project in Ibadan, Oyo State, Mr Oluseun Adebiyi, State Programme Officer for Oyo State, said engaging with community stakeholders will ensure effective use and ensuring community ownership of PHCs across the country.
Adebiyi said this was evident from the RSSH C19-RM project, a global fund project implemented in Oyo State and 17 other states in Nigeria that had achieved many successes in revitalising healthcare services through community engagement in the provision of water, hospital equipment, consumables, security, lighting, resolving long-term rifts between PHCs and the communities, among others.
“The community-based organisations that covered Ibadan North Local Government in Oyo State succeeded in restoring peace between community stakeholders and Ilupeju Bodija PHC, thereby helping in demand creation for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria services while also bringing in community engagements that can help service deliveries at the health facility,” he said.
Mr Adebiyi stated that resources in the community can also help Nigeria maintain its gains in HIV control, as they can also strengthen PHCs across the country to be able to serve as comprehensive sites for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis services.
“It is not all PHCs, for example, in Oyo State, that are comprehensive sites. If this can be done, it will go a step further in making sure that the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and the morbidity and mortality of TB are drastically reduced.
“We shouldn’t let the gains in HIV prevalence relapse by contributing more resources to the response at the PHC level. The government needs to do more by committing more resources to PHCs to provide quality HIV services to people who need them.”
State Coordinator, the Network of People Living With HIV and AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN), Mr Faith Olawale, said there is no project that has elevated PHCs in Oyo State like the RSSH C19-RM, adding that this was acknowledged by the Oyo State Ministry and the state’s Primary Health Care Board.
Mrs Titilade Ogunkunle, project coordinator at the Family Counselling Center, in a remark, said the project had created awareness for community members to know what is going on in their PHCs and to contribute their quota.
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