ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The Enugu State Primary Health Care Development Agency has announced its willingness to partner with the Health Policy Research Group (HPRG) at the University of Nigeria (UNN) to advance the quality of healthcare services in the state.
Dr. Ifeyinwa Ani-Osheku, the Executive Secretary of the agency, stated this when the HPRG team and their partners from the CHORUS Urban Health Project, University of Leeds, United Kingdom, visited her at the weekend.
Addressing some challenges, she emphasized the need of improving healthcare delivery, particularly in slums and underserved areas.
According to her, the collaborative effort is seen as a crucial step toward achieving sustainable healthcare goals in Enugu State.
The Executive Secretary added that it aims to foster cooperation among service providers to ensure comprehensive healthcare services and provide the necessary evidence for informed policymaking.
Dr. Ani-Osheku expressed her commitment to supporting the group’s initiatives and engaging in collaborative research that could enhance the agency’s reputation and lead to innovative solutions applicable in other regions.
She noted that the primary healthcare system in Enugu had recently undergone a comprehensive evaluation, including infrastructure, staff accommodation, and service delivery.
The executive secretary, who commended the efforts of the state government in healthcare improvement, highlighted the vital roles a healthy nation plays in fostering a thriving economy.
She said the initiative aligned with Gov. Peter Mbah’s vision to grow the state’s economy from N4.4 billion to N30 billion.
Addressing challenges such as immunization and health center space, Dr. Ani-Osheku recognized the need for increased state involvement and efforts to bridge gaps in essential medicine and equipment.
The agency said it is working towards raising the standard of Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs), with the goal of ensuring 24-hour service delivery in over 260 out of 530 PHCs, particularly for critical cases.
“We have a standard by which we want to use to measure our PHCs, we have at least 530 PHCs. Out of these 530.
“Over 260 are actively being supported by the funding of the Federal Government of Nigeria, under the Basic Health Care Provision Fund.
“Our idea is to get those 260 facilities to a level to ensure 24 hour service delivery to the people such that when a bleeding mother is sent to a facility, it is capable of handling it,” she said.
Speaking earlier, Professor Obinna Onwujekwe, Coordinator of HPRG at the UN Enugu Campus, stressed the importance of integrating informal health providers into the formal system to enhance their services, quality control, and effectiveness.
He noted that their visit was to familiarise their partnership with the agency, which he described as a crucial step towards achieving global health targets for primary healthcare and community health system.
Onwujekwe said also that the group had earlier embarked on an extensive field assessment, seeking a way to integrate informal health providers into the formal healthcare system.
This, he said was by improving the quality of health services in slums and other communities.
He said, “Most of them operate within ungoverned spaces. You can bring them in and link them to better PHC system to know what they are doing and how they can provide adequate services.
“We have developed interventions with the agency and we want to see if what we are doing works.”
The HPRG’s mission is to conduct quality research in health systems and policies, influencing policymakers and health actors to use scientific evidence for improved healthcare delivery.