By Abdallah el-Kurebe
ASHENEWS reports that the Society for Family Health, on Thursday, held a stakeholders’ inception meeting in Sokoto, to unveil the IntegratE 2.0, a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Merck for Mothers (MSD)-funded project.
The meeting was jointly organised by the Society for Family Health (SFH), the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN), the Sokoto State Government in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Health.
The IntegratE 2.0, a five-year project, which seeks to scale up the cuccess of IntegratE 1.0 as well as pilot new approaches to testing, integrating and providing quality Family Planning (FP) and primary healthcare services provided by Community Pharmacists (CPs) and Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) in 11 states, including Sokoto.
Presenting its objectives, the Director of Pharmaceuticals at the Sokoto state Ministry of Health, Pham. Hamisu Musa, said the meeting seeks to Introduce the IntegratE project to stakeholders and create shared understanding of the project goals, objectives; set the course and tone for clear communication and teamwork throughout the project; sensitize and highlight team/key stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities on the project; highlight the approach, methodology, scope, Implementation strategies, targets, and timelines of the project; and agree with stakeholders on how to work together to achieve the project objectives.
Also presenting its overview, the Regional Project Coordinator of IntegratE 2.0, Dr. Dayyabu Yusuf, said the project will train registered PPMVs and CPs along with primary healthcare workers in the 11 states.
According to him, IntegratE 2.0 will also involve study sponsorship, certification, accreditation, and license issuance to personnel under the supervision of PCN.
While observing that 60 percent of Nigerians sought healthcare services from CPs and PPMVs, the government focused mainly on public healthcare providers, who only account for 40 percent of access to care.
Also speaking, the Sokoto state Commissioner for Health, Lema Abubakar, commended partners on family planning and other healthcare interventions in the state.
He reiterated the state government’s commitment to support their efforts by ensuring the proper utilization of projects provided by development partners that are working in the state.
According to him, the contributions of development partners in the state had assisted in improving the healthcare system and delivery in the state.
Goodwill messages were also delivered by a representative of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Sani Mustafa and the representative of the Sultan of Sokoto and District Head of Gagi, Sani Umar-Jabbi, among others.
