Advocacy for improved funding and greater commitment to tuberculosis response anchored by a Non-Governmental Organization, Gender Perspective and Social Development Centre, has been taken to Anambra State Health Insurance Agency, (ASHIA).
Angel Network News (ANN) reports that during the meeting, GPSDC’s Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Ngozi Onwubuya, stressed the need for intentional measures to bridge the funding gap especially now that donors who fund greater percentage of TB intervention, are getting fatigued.
“The Fund TB project is being implemented in five South-East and South-South states by a cluster of five NGOs led by the Policy Alert to get government and people ready for possible exit of donors who majorly fund our TB programme. When they leave, we may have chaos unless we take a decisive step as a state to avert it.
“So, we must think out innovative ways to sustain and better our current response to TB. We are ready to partnership to achieve this,” Onwubuya said.
A member of the team, Chima Asomba, in a remark, said, “this visit is to ascertain how ASHIA can contribute more towards the drive to eradicate TB in the state. It can be in form of more health coverage for TB patients who have other health issues,in order to make sure such patients receive appropriate and affordable treatment in a timely manner alongside their free TB treatment.
“For example, aside the Drug Susceptible TB, the current TB drug regimen in Anambra state for Drug- Resistant tuberculosis patients is B-PAM/B-PAL which is a six-month regimen. A patient can have issues of comorbidity-a situation where a patient who has Drug Resistant Tuberculosis or any other form of TB, additionally has another medical condition such as heart problem, or/and maybe diabetes whereas diagnosis, and enrolment into care is free for Tuberculosis, made largely possible by donor-Global Fund, the patient in this case needs coverage for other comorbidities, for a healthier living, and ASHIA needs to play a critical role in ensuring that.
“Furthermore, we are talking about the need for internal resource mobilization as there are palpable fear due to the dreaded donor fatigue, and likely withdrawal. We will like ASHIA to look at these things holistically and have a short to long-term plan to carry more responsibilities when the donors are gone because all the benefits we get from the donors will go when they finally go.
“It is important ASHIA begins to look at how the insurance package can be holistic such that they can better plan to provide coverage for people who have TB even from the diagnostic stage, enrollment into care, follow- up to treatment completion, and a lot of other add ons that are required,” Asomba concluded.
Responding, the Managing Director, ASHIA, Dr Simeon Onyemaechi, represented by the Medical Officer, Dr Sougth Out Okechi, said the agency’s goal is to provide quality and affordable health care for all residents with the hope of achieving the Universal Health Coverage by 2030.
“On behalf of our MD, I am happy to inform you that Global Fund is partnering with us to enroll over 20,000 patients of tuberculosis to give them access to quality health care at a very minimum cost. These persons will have access to every TB regimen according to standard management protocol on TB from ASHIA accredited health care providers. So, they will not have to suffer undue out of pocket expenditure.
“Each of the TB patients will enjoy treatment of other coinfections, comorbidities, and opportunistic infections”.
On the need to prepare for eventual exit of donors, the ASHIA Medical Officer said, “I am aware that our MD, as the immediate past National Program Director for TB, with laudable record, is working towards ensuring that before the donors exit, the pool of our benefit package would have increased.
At the moment, the coverage for Anambra state is just below four percent both formal and informal sectors, which is very poor. You don’t expect such a pool size to be able to fund first line treatment like molecular testing. But I think this will be in place before the exit of the donors”.
In a remark, Faith Paulinus, the Head, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, Fund TB Project Cluster, lauded the planned enrollment of 20,000 Tb patients even as he queried the modalities for selecting beneficiaries.
“It falls back to the civil society and government relationship because we have CSOs working around the space. So, I will want your agency to see how to partner with them to identify most of those patients.
“This will also lessen the work on your part as an agency. We look forward to ASHIA extending that hand of relationship to civil society actors especially those working to eliminate tuberculosis in Anambra State,” Paulinus concluded.
