Gombe State: First Lady To Lead Advocacy For Improved Maternal And Child Health Outcomes

Gombe State Government through the Office of the First Lady, in collaboration with the State Ministry of Health, and with support from the Legislative Initiative for Sustainable Development (LISDEL), organized a one-day high-level policy dialogue on RMNCAH+N with the theme “Investing in Primary Health Care to address Maternal and Child Health Mortality in Gombe State.”

The overall objective of the policy dialogue was to define advocacy priorities toward improving RMNCAH+N status in the State. The high-level meeting also featured the investiture of new voices including Dr. Alhj. Yaya Hamari to champion RMNCAH-N advocacies in the State.

In attendance at the policy dialogue was Her Excellency, Hajiya Asma’u Inuwa Yahaya, the First Lady of Gombe State, the Honorable Commissioner for Health who was represented by the permanent secretary, the Honorable Commissioner for Science, Technology, and other stakeholders from various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies. Development partners, Civil Society Organizations, Community people, and the Media were also in attendance.

The dialogue featured presentations on RMNCAH+N Policies and Interventions in Gombe State, led by the representative of the Honourable Commissioner for Health, the Executive Secretaries of the State Primary Health Care Agency (SPHCDA), and GoHealth and lead of media, Gombe State Accountability Mechanism for Maternal and Newborn and Child Health (GoSAM).

The First Lady, Her Excellency, Hajiya Asma’u Inuwa Yahaya, in her comment reiterated the need to advocate at the highest level of government to address challenges and gaps of RMNCAH+N in the State. She committed to leading the newly investiture RMNCAH+N Champions to demand actions that will catalyze efforts towards achieving RMNCAH-N Strategic Objectives in the State.

It was observed at the policy dialogue that, despite remarkable progress by the state, RMNCAH-N indicators, and indices for Gombe based on existing data and evidence are not encouraging. There is low demand and use of RMNCAH+N data for action, inadequate human resources for health, especially in primary healthcare centers, the inadequate release of budgeted funds to the SPHCDA and cash backing, inadequate release of the State’s Equity Fund for GoHealth, among others.

To address these issues and ensure RMNCAH+N strategic objectives are achieved in the State, stakeholders present made the following resolutions:

• High-level advocacy to Government and International Partners/Donors for improved Fund release to SEMCHIC, Supply of essential commodities such as family planning among others.
• The State Government should endeavor to provide equity Funds promptly and consistently for the upward enrolment of the poor and vulnerable in the State.
• There is a need to Strengthen Traditional Birth Attendance (TBA)/ Community Health Influencers and Promoters (CHIP).
• There is a need to build the capacity of health workers on interpersonal communication, constant monitoring, and supervision.
• A need to validate the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) accountability framework recently developed.
• There is a need to leverage other platforms to generate more funding asides from the BHCPF.
• The minimum package for health needs to be expanded to accommodate more women and children.

Contributed by Philip Akoso | LISDEL