AFRICA. Nigeria: The Nigerian Governors Forum has launched the Primary Health Care (PHC) Leadership Endowment Fund.
The Leadership Challenge is a flagship program to overhaul the Primary Health Care Under One Roof (PHCUOR) policy in the country by maximising the commitment of state governors to support the gradual increase in funding for primary health care and ensure that all primary health care centres have the necessary human resource capacity.
The initiative, launched at the forum’s meeting yesterday is aimed at revamping the country’s policy of Primary Health Care Under One Roof (PHCUOR) by ensuring state governors prioritise healthcare and funding of primary healthcare centres to a required standard.
In November 2019, the forum at its National Executive Council meeting flagged the Seattle Declaration as a way forward to encourage governors to give the desired regard to PHCs. However, the fund launched yesterday was aimed at implementing the Seattle Declaration.
Further, the Leadership Challenge is a joint project of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the Dangote Foundation and the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA).
To measure commitment and the outcome, 13 awards have been set to reward the 12 best performing and improved states, while one award is going to the overall best performing and most improved state. This will come up in December this year.
At the launch, the Country Director, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) representative, Jeremie Zoungrana said the Challenge Fund represents a unique opportunity to motivate and publicly recognise ownership and leadership at the subnational level.
The PHC health indicators, Zoungrana said, will be tracked to support the NGF to build governor-level accountability, improve performance management, and enhance investments in critical areas of PHC, according to Nigerian-based PremiumTimes.
He added that the fund will also leverage other BMGF investments that focus on improving state-level data ownership, analysis, quality, and use. In addition, Zoungrana said BMGF is fully aligned with the federal government’s determination to reform and revitalise PHC through the current effort by the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Primary Healthcare Development Agenda.
On his part, the NGF Chairman, Kayode Fayemi, while assuring members’ commitment to the project, said they are looking forward to receiving the Fund.
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