After 2 Years, TCI Management Team Visits Nasarawa State, Nigeria, to Promote Sustainable Partnership

Mar 13, 2023

Contributed by Oluwafemi Timothy Rotimi, Oluwafunsho Daniel, Deborah T. Khah, Sifonobong Attah and Uduak Ananaba

After 2 Years, TCI Management Team Visits Nasarawa State, Nigeria, to Promote Sustainable Partnership

Mar 13, 2023

Contributed by Oluwafemi Timothy Rotimi, Oluwafunsho Daniel, Deborah T. Khah, Sifonobong Attah and Uduak Ananaba

TCI’s management team visits Nasarawa State.

The Challenge Initiative (TCI) supports states to increase access to voluntary modern contraceptives through the scale-up of high-impact practices and other interventions (HIPs & HIIs) designed to sustain government commitment for a strengthened health system.

The TCI management team recently conducted a learning and managerial support visit to Nasarawa State to better understand the program’s implementation as it approaches graduation, conduct a program review and engender a sustainable partnership.

In the last two years, TCI’s partnership with Nasarawa has strengthened the capacity of the state staff and health providers and sustained a viable health system in the state. During the visit, the Executive Secretary of the Nasarawa State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NAPHDA), Dr. Mohammed Usman Adis, commended TCI and the team for instituting the learning visit, saying:

 I am very proud of the initiative for their laudable achievement in the state in terms of capacity of staff and all-inclusiveness.”

With technical support from TCI, and the efforts and commitment of the state’s advocacy structure, Nasarawa facilitated the release of N91,000,000 (USD $206,349) from the state family planning  (FP) budget line to implement family planning and reproductive health activities. In addition, TCI’s strategies to improve the quality of FP services led to implementation of the 72-hour health facility makeover, which includes executing repairs and renovations and providing basic equipment. It also promotes an enabling environment for FP service provision. Highlighting the impact the 72-hour makeover had in the state, Adis noted:

 If I have the opportunity to invest in primary health care, the 72-hour clinic makeover is what I am going to adopt, even if it is not going to be exactly 72 hours, but the time-frame I will use will be short because this will yield better results for the health facility.”

Other state policymakers and stakeholders affirmed TCI’s technical support and the state’s commitment to a sustainable partnership. Dr. Absalom Madawa, the Director of Community and Family Health Services in NAPHDA highlighted another high-impact intervention the state will sustain:

 We are planning to scale up FP inreaches to all the LGAs in the state using the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) because TCI has demonstrated that FP inreaches is low hanging fruit and a cost-effective way to reach more women and men of childbearing age with contraception.”

The state also plans to orient its health workforce on TCI University to improve knowledge and skills to lead and drive HIPs & HIIs implementation at the local government area (LGA) and health facility level.

The learning visit concluded with the TCI Nigeria management team expressing optimism that the successes recorded in the state were markers of a sustainable partnership and self-reliance. TCI’s Nigeria hub Director, Dr. Victor Igharo, said:

This achievement has placed the state on the path to becoming self-reliant and a model for other TCI and non-TCI supported states in Nigeria.”

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