The Strengthening Public Accountability for Results and Knowledge, (SPARK 2) Implementation Team in Anambra State has appealed to the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget to ensure timely and unhindered release of funds budgeted for primary health care, to further boost maternal and child health in the area.
The team which made the appeal during a visit to the Commissioner in charge of the ministry, Hon. Chiamaka Nnake, as part of SPARK 2 project implementation, argued that early release of budgeted funds will further boost health care delivery in the state.
The IBP SPARK COMEN Consultant, Ugochi Ehiahuruike, told the commissioner that the visit was to seek partnership for the project especially in the area of budgeting and releases.
“We know that nothing happens without budgeting and budgeting and planning for the state economy are handled by this ministry. During SPARK 1 which lasted for five years, we focused on water provision. But in the second phase, which is also for another five years, we are looking at maternal and child health”.
“In SPARK 1, we intervened in three LGAs. In this phase, we are in six LGAs including Idemili South and Awka North for Anambra Central Senatorial District, Aguata and Nnewi South in Anambra South, as well as Onitsha South and Ayamelum for Anambra North. But, apart from the 6 selected LGAs, we will be reaching out to other LGAs during implementation”.
Ehiahuruike explained that “the overall objective of the project is to improve maternal and child health service delivery in Anambra State, targeting the primary health centres.
“We will be training people from the grassroots on their role in th Basic Health Care Provision Fund implementation and how to relate with officers in charge of PHCs. We will partner with the Ministry of Health, the State Primary Health Care Development and Health Insurance Agencies to achieve this”.
Contributing, the SPARK Program Manager, JDPC, Nnewi, Onyekachi Ololo, commended the state for its intervention in the health sector especially its free antenatal and delivery services which had helped several indigent women to give birth free of charge.
Ololo explained, “While we note that Anambra State has one of the best health statistics in the country, we are interested in further improving maternal and child healthcare in Anambra State. To this end, we solicit an improvement in terms of the gap between budget approval and releases.
“We think that the state should unlock potential sources of funding at the local government level. For us, we have raised teams of monitors whose duty is to ensure that government gets value for all it is spending on primary health care projects across the state.
The Executive Director, Civil Right Concern and IBP Partner on SPARK project, Okay Onyeka, called for greater attention to community sensitization and mobilization efforts, which in his view would help contribute greatly to efforts to to increase the utilization rate of the BHCPF across facilities.
“We acknowledge that something is happening in Anambra State. However, government must be pay greater attention to the rural areas. It is our belief that when people at the grassroots are able to access services without hindrances, the overall health indices of the state will improve greatly.
Responding, the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Hon. Chiamaka Nnake, told her visitors that a lot are happening in the health sector, which has received great attention from the presentation.
“There are a lot of things happening in the health sector and the state government is spear-heading it by itself. In this regime, our health interventions are funded mainly by the state government not donor agencies. In fact, the state is using development partners to implement its budget. It is not that they are bringing money. Of course we are leveraging their technical support.
On budgeting and releases for the Health Ministry, I am happy to inform you that as at last year, after the ministry of infrastructure, the next ministry that accessed almost access all its budget is the Ministry of Health. That is why under the on-going free antenatal and delivery services, we have seen people coming from other states to Anambra to give birth so that they can enjoy it.
The Commission announced that arrangements had been concluded to improve the condition of all the health centres, through the local governments. “Remember that primary health care is under the local government. Currently, the governor has approved the renovation of the 326 PHCs in each of the wards.
However, we are starting off with 50 percent. We have renovation, provision of water, solarisation and equipment in the pack. We will start with the worst of all,” Nnake concluded.
