ACOMIN delivers Scorecard as stakeholders hail strides in Gombe
Chima Azubuike
The Civil Society in Malaria Control, Immunization and Nutrition (ACOMIN), says the organisation is looking forward to greater collaborations, that will yield resounding achievements with all stakeholders and communities in the coming year.
These were part of resolutions in the address of state coordinator Mrs. Hassana Maisanda, at a media parley where she stated the group’s scorecard.
According to the state coordinator, through the collaborative efforts of the various communities, ACOMIN has been able to change the narrative, adding that through Catholic Relief Services under the ongoing Global Fund Grant to implement the Civil Society and community component, the state has achieved a lot.
She said, “ACOMIN is implementing Accountability and Advocacy component and the project is being implemented in the thirteen GF Malaria States, one of which is Gombe State. The Accountability and Advocacy project is being implemented in five (5) LGAs through Community-based Organizations.
“There was a need for more staff at Debewa PHC, Kamo ward, Kaltungo LGA when ACOMIN went there to implement this project. Through advocacy to the community leadership, ACOMIN facilitated the employment of three (3) volunteers from the community to this facility. These volunteers have resumed work and are being paid by the community. The intervention also brought about the running of shifts among the staff of the facility, thereby making services available to the community members for more hours each day. A similar success was achieved at Gujuba PHC.
“A labour room in Kwami Model PHC, Kwami LGA had been out of use for quite some time because the ceiling was falling off. After discovering this issue, ACOMIN conducted advocacy to the community leadership through the Ward Development Committee (WDC) and encouraged the community’s leadership to fix the problem rather than wait for the government to do it.
“The ceiling was then replaced by the Community/WDC leadership and the facility is presently using the labour room. Again, ACOMIN resolved an issue of water shortage in the same facility where, through our advocacies, a water tank was bought by the Community/WDC leadership to support the facility. The WDC also mobilized resources and bought benches which they distributed to four (4) facilities namely, Kufayi, Gerkwami, Kwami Gari and Titi, as a result of ACOMIN’s advocacies.”
While noting the importance of collaboration Maisanda recalled how through advocacy efforts security was beefed up at the Yalenguruza Primary Health Care facility.
“Through our advocacy efforts to the leader of one of the communities in Yelenguruza ward, a much-needed night watchman was employed to the outpost there and is being paid by some stakeholders in the community. Due to the absence of a security person before the intervention, this outpost had been robbed of its refrigerator and some other items.
“When ACOMIN presented the challenge to the community leadership, two (2) members of the community pledged to jointly provide a one-year salary for security personnel employed by the community for this outpost. This has been done and ACOMIN is still in the process of soliciting for a permanent solution to this at the local government level,” she added.
Also speaking, Bello Ibrahim, an indigene of Kufayi in Kwami LGA of Gombe, said he is impressed with the various interventions of ACOMIN, adding that Kufayi has seen a number of changes across the health system.
Ibrahim said, “ACOMIN has provided Kufayi with malaria medicines, has provided chairs in our Primary Health care; through the interventions of the organization closure of the facility has been extended by 2 hours, before they close by 2pm now they now close by 4pm.”
On his part, Joseph Olarotimi, representative of Gombe Anglican Diocesan Development Initiative (GADDI), appreciated the various interventions of ACOMIN across the pilot LGA’s calling for more synergy.
Meanwhile, Isah Ishaku, representative of Bearing in Mind Action to Save Life Initiative, said “we are thankful to ACOMIN, before now the healthcare personnel were not knowledgeable about their duties but they have been trained to provide relevant assistances.”
