A non Governmental Organisation, White Ribbon Alliance Nigeria has entered into partnership with the Niger State Primary Health Care Development Agency to develop an accountability framework to support the implementation process of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund in the state.
This is part of efforts to improve health service delivery that will be provided including Antenatal Care, Postnatal care Maternal and child health services, Immunization, Family Planning and others.
The fund according to the Executive Director, Niger State Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Ibrahim Dangana will be implemented through three gateways: 50% for Niger state contributory health scheme NiCare, 45% goes to Niger State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, 5% goes to Niger State Emergency Management and Treatment Committee.
While speaking at a stakeholders meeting over the weekend in Minna, the Executive Director NPHCDA who was represented by Dr Inuwa Junaidu congratulated the White Ribbon Alliance Nigeria for the commitment and painstaking process of developing the accountability framework.
“We are delighted to have a tool to monitor the implementation of the fund. For us, we want to see a transparent implementation of the fund so we are happy to work with the White Ribbon Alliance Nigeria to develop the accountability tool and ensure Nigerlites can benefit from the fund to the fullest”, he said.
Speaking also, the Senior Program Manager of White Ribbon Alliance, Christy Asala, expressed joy that the tool is developed with the support of the target stakeholders in the state.
She said accordingly, that “money meant for health must be spent for health in a transparent and accountable manner in ensuring that services are improved, because accountability inspires hope for people and communities and builds trust for leadership”.
The Niger state Lead, Monitoring and Evaluation contributory health scheme, Alhaji Ibrahim Isa, said the tool will be very helpful to monitor the implementation of the funds.
He added that “in Niger State, 174 health facilities have been selected for the implementation of the fund to support Service Provision including Essential Drugs, Human Resource for Health and Health Infrastructure development”.
It should be noted that Niger State is one of the eligible States to access the BHCPF and one of the pilot states in Nigeria.
The accountability framework will track implementation across the three gateways, ensuring that at all levels there is compliance. Embedded in the framework is a budget tracking tool developed to support the state to monitor the flow of funds from the National to the state counterpart agencies and then to the Primary Healthcare Facilities.
A final validation meeting was held at the state Ministry of health. Representatives from the communities, media and targeted ministries were present at the meeting.
