USAID-IHP supports FG to Improve healthcare delivery in FCT

By Franca Ofili

Dr Adewumi Frances-Lois, State Director, Integrated Health Programme (IHP), FCT has said that the five years USAID-IHP expanded technical support to Nigeria would help to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Frances-Lois said this at a one-day media engagement meeting on Tuesday in Dutse Alhaji.

According to her, the project has three objectives which are to strengthen health systems, support and improve Primary Health Care (PHC) services and to increase quality of PHC.

She stated that the purpose was to implement priority on PHC interventions to strengthen the health leadership and ward-level health systems as well as to strengthen engagement with the government.

Frances-Lois said that the programme had achieved its set goals and objectives of contributing to the reductions in child maternal morbidity and mortality in the FCT, while increasing the capacity of health systems.

This, she said had sustainably supported the quality of PHC services since its five years of operation in the territory.

“No fewer than 50 PHCs in the FCT have been supported with provision of essential furniture, beddings, designed and deployed an e-portal for Private Health Establishments.

“Health care workers were trained in 126 facilities, while on Maternal and new born health we trained 530.

“On Family Planning, we trained 477 and 524 trained in child health using the low dose high frequency approach.

“We trained 80 health care workers in 12 government hospitals on inpatient management of severe malaria, severe pneumonia and severe complicated malnutrition,” she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that USAID Integrated Health Programme (IHP) has expanded technical support to Nigeria to rapidly scale-up proven reproductive, maternal, newborn, child health, nutrition and malaria (RMNCH+NM) intervention.

IHP interventions were present in Ebonyi, Bauchi, Kebbi, and Sokoto states, including FCT, to supports health policies and systems.

Also, Mr David Barau, Public Relations Officer, FCT Health Insurance Scheme (FHIS), said that the benefit of the package was the basic components of care an enrollee beneficiary would receive from the healthcare provider at all levels.

Barau said that they have three types of care which were fully covered – partial exclusive and total exclusive.

He said that the scheme had commenced access to healthcare since September 2009.

“The scheme is a social health insurance that operates on the principle of solidarity, pooling of resources and risk sharing for the provision of affordable, accessible and qualitative health care to FCT residents and the nation at large,” he added. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Halima Sheji