….Scores Gombe high, lauds GSPHCDA, AWG
Chima Azubuike
Gombe State Coordinator, The Challenge Initiative, Yakubu Usman, on Friday indicated interest of his organisation to graduate the state following its performance since it was on boarded.
Usman made the disclosure during a thank you visit organised in collaboration with Advocacy Working Group to Executive Secretary Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency Dr Abdulrahman Shuaibu.
Periscope Nigeria reports that TCI operates business unusual model which allows for partnership between her and governments in creating acceptance of family planning services.
However, by graduation Gombe would transit from partnership to realm of self-reliance towards ensuring its sustainability.
Recall that TCI started working in Gombe as a partner, as early as end of 2020 when the expression of interest was approved by its board, while full implementation commenced in 2021.
According to Usman, since the process was concretised the state has been witnessing a lot of successes, adding that its also coped with the stress TCI has been imposing on them.
He said, “We know they’re fully engaged by other partners work that expect commitment, but they were able to work with us, thank God the state has reached a level of graduation. March is the deadline for graduation; graduation means the state is going to transit from our partnership to the level of self reliance, so it means. Gombe is now a model state for TCI and other states to learn on how best practices are implemented.
“So, thank you very much, we’re able to see that the state has complied with all our agreement, they put budget line, they invested a lot of money, they procured commodities, they expanded our high impact interventions from where we started in 24 facilities in six local government to many facilities. so especially Quality Improvement Team implemented in 114 facilities, this is a very big achievement, so we are here to say thank you, and thank you but as we’re transiting we know there are other things we will expect from the state which is part of the agreement, that the state will continue to implement this high impact intervention which is going to make them to scale to other local governments and facilities and will continue reporting.”
Explaining further on the terms of the graduation Usman noted that TCI would not leave Gombe alone after graduation, “there’s a period of two years TCI will be coming every six months to do assessment, to administer some checklist to see the level of self reliance and continuity and expansion and scale as well. So we’re not parting, we’re just leaving and another thing about the process is that the state will now take more responsibilities in funding and supervision and the state when during the process of graduation,” he said.
Also speaking, Chairman of Gombe State Advocacy Working Group, Alhassan Yahya, lauded the impact of TCI adding “TCI has touched our lives both the staff of the Primary Health Care Development Agency, as well as the representatives from the media, Civil Society Organisations and religious leaders.”
Explaining further Yahya recalled an instance where TCI facilitated trainings for staff of the GSPHCDA, “I will give you an example; I have a testimony from some of your staff who were taught how to use computer to do certain things and I believe it was as a result of your openness, without that I believe you will not come and learn something. I want to inform you that likewise from our own end, journalists as well as religious leaders we have learnt a lot from this project. Of course, every project has a life circle and I believe that by March or April as you said this project is coming to an end but for us we want to see that this project is sustained and maintained for the rest of our lives,” he said.
The AWG Chairman explained that child birth spacing, has received tremendous boost following the efforts of TCI and stakeholders, stressing that the state’s unmet need remained a challenge, “Honestly, to be frank with all of us you are doing a lot in Gombe State, our biggest challenge is still unmet needs. Unmet needs are still high but when we look at our Contraceptive Prevalence Rate and the acceptance of family planning, all the methods, both the women are doing wonderfully well in the state. You will be surprised if you go to a facility, far away in the rural area you will see, I don’t want to say Fulani, you will see how Bororo is accepting child birth spacing, this is to tell you that to be frank to all of us, I think this project and all other projects that are working on this in thematic area are doing a lot. Sir, we want Primary Health Care Development Agency to make sure that all budgetary allocation that are in our budget are timely released we believe with that funding, we’re going to use such funding for instance to reduce the unmet needs. The unmet need results when people want to access any method of family planning but unfortunately at the end of the day they can’t get the right method that they want, Yahya added.
Responding, Executive Secretary Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Shuaibu, lauded the intervention of TCI in the state, saying that their activities in Gombe have yielded positive results.
He said, “A lot of researches have shown how child spacing can reduce maternal mortality and as you know Nigeria is one of the countries with highest mortality across the globe and apart from that, Gombe State which is in the North-East has maternal and child mortality that is higher than the national average. That is why interventions that have to do with child birth spacing are very important to our women and children and TCI coming to Gombe around 2020 has made a lot of difference with child birth spacing in the state.
“We’ve seen a lot of improvement through acceptance through decreasing the unmet needs for family planning, we’ve seen how their initiative supported budget line and ensured that those funds are released for us to use and then we are seeing how the state has also started procuring family planning commodities. I think it’s a great achievement because across all the states in the country, Gombe State has been a role model.”
Shuaibu added that, “TCI did not do it alone, we had a lot of support from our traditional and religious leaders because they’re more closer to the people and the people understand them better and also they listen to them more.”
While assuring that government would play it part in ensuring graduation becomes successful, Shuaibu urged the TCI and AWG to consider Ramadan in its preparation, “Ramadan is also coming in March, so if we’re going to plan our graduation, our graduation has to be either before or after Ramadan, we should take note of this items and also put them in consideration, the project has made significant impact to our women and children and then it has also built a lot of capacity among healthcare providers because,” he added.
