The Gombe State Accountability Mechanism, has presented the Health Budget Scorecard of the State Accountability Framework from across six local government areas.

The scorecard sought and evaluate the Basic Health Care Provision Fund key budget performance indicators in Akko, Billiri, Kaltungo,  Kwami,  Gombe and Yamaltu-Deba LGAs for transparency and timeliness of budget releases, citizens and civil society participation and resource allocation.

The indicators were in the areas of receiving quarterly funding, that is, if the facility is receiving funding from the Primary Healthcare Agency Annual Budget, whether the facility received Captivation payment on or before the 5th of the month, supervision from the State Primary Healthcare Development Agency or Gombe State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency in the last quarter and 24 hour service provision in the facilities, among others.

The Chairman of the Gombe State Accountability Mechanism, Mr. Alhassan Yahya, said the outcome was encouraging.

He commended the government and the agencies under the Ministry of Health, GoHealth and Primary Healthcare Development Agency.

He said the exercise was conducted without any interference from the government.

Mr. Yahya said during the collation of data, local government PHC coordinators and focal persons handling the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund in the six facilities visited were engaged, where it was able to track funds released by the government was being used by the end users.

He hoped that the programme would be scaled up to cover more vulnerable people, and also, that women and children would enjoy the benefit of the programme.

He, however, called on the government to continue with the timely release of funds for the vulnerable to continue to access services, more training for the focal persons handling Basic Healthcare Funds for them to master the use of computers and use the data effectively.

The Commissioner of Health, Dr. Habu Dahiru, said the concept of the Accountability Framework was adopted to assess and know how the government was performing and afterwards reward and sanction where necessary.

Dr. Daniru, however, pledged that the government would do more to ensure more visitation of facilities, where low visitation was recorded, while the issue of computer appreciation and functionality would be improved upon and the control rooms for complaints would be improved upon.

In the meantime, the Programme Officer of Lisdel, a partner organisation, Mr. Ayobamidele Adamilola, said his organisation was delighted to be part of the process in providing support for citizen-led accountability framework.

Nigeria’s Ministries of Health and Environment have collaborated with Anambra State in holding a two day training of personnel on proper management of medical waste.

The training was in accordance with the National Policy guidelines on health care waste management.

The programme goes in line with the mandate of the State Governor,  Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, whose main priority was the Environment and Health sector.

The Commissioner of Environment, Felix Odimegwu in a series of meeting with the officials which took place in his office  in Awka, the state capital,said:

“Medical waste is a source of generation of hazardous biomedical waste that it’s generation and disposal is a very important aspect, the policies made by the national policy guidelines on health care waste management is a wonderful one and we will be all out for it’s implementation, with proper specification for handling medical waste from generation, segregation, collection, storage, transportation and treatment as tutored in the training the spread of infectious diseases will be curtailed to the bearest minimum”.

Speaking further, the representative from the federal ministry of Health, Mrs Uhara Onyinye, stated that the aim of the field work on assessment of medical waste conducted in different local Government Area of the state together with the two (2) days training was to curtail/minimize the spread of diseases and infection caused by handling of medical waste.

In her contribution, the representative from the ministry of Environment Mrs Okpala Chika said that the newer/upgraded version of incineration, chemical treatment, auto claving, microwaving, shredding/compacting taught in the training when implemented will reduce the negative impact of medical waste in the environment.

Others present at the event were the Permanent secretary, Ministry of Environment Mrs Ngozi Iwuno, the H.O.D of Public health Ministry of Environment Mr Nwankwu.

The Anambra State Drug Control Committee is partnering with the National Drug law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, to end drug abuse by creating ways to eliminate it across the state.

The Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike gave the assurance when he received the new State Commander of NDLEA in his office at the Jerome Udoji Secretariat Complex, Awka, the state capital.

The Commissioner says, “We are working together with the National Drug law Enforcement Agency,NDLEA, to stop the illicit trade involving the cultivation, manufacture, distribution, and sale of substances to drug prohibition laws.

 “This crucial meeting with the State Commander NDLEA Anambra with his team shows that the fight against drug abuse is not a child’s play, we are going to work as a team so as to achieve our objective of ending the drug abuse.’’

Dr. Obidike said the State Government was making a sincere effort to build the Modern Rehabilitation Centre in the state where drug addicts would be rehabilitated and reintegrate back to society.

“Drug abuse is the excessive or addictive use of drugs for non medical purposes despite social, psychological, and physical problems that may arise from such use, and it must be stopped in the state,” he said.

He explained that drug abuse plays a role in many major social problems such as drugged driving, violence, stress, and child abuse.

The State Commander of the NDLEA, Onyisi D Ogbonna, assured the commissioner that his command was committed to partnering with the state to end drug abuse in the state.

He charged all members of the Committee know as the Solution Team on the War Against Drug Abuse (SDCC ST- WADA) to wake up to the task and fight the drug scourge, especially Methamphetamine.

Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike said the administration of Governor  Charles Soludo was fully committed to the fight against drug abuse and trafficking.

Some indigenes of Oyo State resident in Canada, under the aegis of Ibadan Descendants Development Union (IDDU),  have donated medical and hospital materials to the Adeoyo Maternity Teaching Hospital, Yemetu, Ibadan.

Receiving the items on behalf of the state government, the Special Adviser to Governor Seyi Makinde on Culture and Tourism, Mr Ademola Ige, said government alone cannot attend to all the needs of society across all sectors.

Ige disclosed that donations from well-meaning individuals and groups would go a long way in enhancing governance for the good of people and residents.

 He seized the opportunity to appeal to indigenes of the state, home and aboard, to complement the strides of the state government through their continuous contributions and donations to the various sectors of the state, commending the IDDU for the donation, especially with pregnant women as the main beneficiaries.

Ige also described as noteworthy the fact that indigenes who travelled out of the country still deemed it fit to return to give back to their hometown.

Representative of IDDU, including Mr Benjamin Adegoke and Dr Ayobami Ojoawo, in their separate remarks, assured that the group has resolved to continually attend to the needs of Adeoyo Maternity Teaching Hospital, Yemetu, for it to serve its patients better.

Some of the items donated included: 100 adult bedsheets, 100 children bedsheets, 30 delivery packs and cash for 20 pregnant women.

Sokoto State Government in partnership with health organisations have reiterated the need for increased proactive engagements and strategies to combat malaria and other diseases in the state.

The Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Lema Abubakar, made the commitment during the international malaria awareness campaign tagged ”World Malaria Day” on Thursday in Sokoto.

At the event which was organised by Sokoto State Government, in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Health, Malaria Consortium, World Health Organization (WHO), Breakthrough Action Nigeria and others, he lauded the partners for malaria control programmes and other healthcare interventions in the state and reiterated the commitment to sustain the efforts.

Abubakar explained that the present administration in the state was spending huge amount of money to ensure effective prevention, control and elimination of malaria and other diseases in the state. He stated it was in addition to the establishment of Sokoto State Malaria Elimination Control Agency, first of its kind across the states of the federation.

According to him, more is still needed to be done because Malaria still accounted for about 80 per cent deaths in tropical countries, adding that Nigeria alone accounted for about 40 per cent deaths estimated globally.

The Zonal Programme Manager of Malaria Consortium, Malam Faruku Na-Mallam, described malaria as one of the challenging diseases in the country. Na-Mallam described partners’ efforts as catalyst on preventing malaria spread and urged government and other donors to live up to the expectations.

He further enjoined health personnel and community members to continue to strive towards malaria prevention by adhering to stipulated precautionary measures.