A cluster of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), the Health System Strengthening Cluster (HSSC) and the Ebonyi State government are partnering to improve the healthcare system in the State through Integrated Supportive Supervision (ISS).
The cluster comprises six CSOs on the Scale project, a USAID-funded five-year project from Oct. 2020 to Oct. 2025.
The Programme Manager of the Life Transformation for Africa initiative (LIFT4AFRICA), Mr Chiemezie Ezeani said the Ebonyi government needed to create a budget line for ISS in its 2025 Budget and ensure releases.
Ezeani, who made the call in Abakaliki at a media roundtable with journalists on Monday, said that ISS was targeted at improving healthcare delivery for the people.
He also stressed the need to establish a Private Sector Engagement Unit in the Primary Healthcare (PHC) Department of LGAs in Ebonyi.
The Manager noted that the ISS project was being implemented by Palladium International in collaboration with Nigeria Resource Partners (RPs).
“ISS is an intervention that facilitates quality improvement by ensuring adequate oversight as well as skills and knowledge transfer to health care service providers.
“It is capable of enhancing quality service, improving performances, team building, encouraging open, two-way communication and enhancing team building spirit among health personnel.
“The ISS project has been accepted, tested and proven to enhance the performance and effectiveness of health care workers.
“If all PHCs in Ebonyi are adequately supervised, it would guarantee quality healthcare service delivery in the State. The time to act is now,” the manager stated.
In his response, the Commissioner for Health in Ebonyi, Dr Moses Ekuma commended the CSOs for their support to the government towards ensuring qualitative healthcare delivery for the people.
Ekuma assured them that the government of Ebonyi was ready to partner with the Life Transformation for Africa Initiative to strengthen supervision of healthcare, especially in rural communities.
“Bringing this initiative (project) to our state is timely and a welcome development. Of course, we are going to work assiduously to create a budget line for ISS in the state,” the Commissioner said.
The cluster members include the Life Transformation for Africa Initiative (LIFT4AFRICA), the Council for Affirmative Action (COFA) and the Women with Disability Integrity & Development Initiative (WDIDI).
Others include the Bauchi State Network of Civil Societies (BASNEC) and, the She-Alert Care Foundation (SHE-ALERT) with Better Life Restoration Initiative (BERI), serving as the anchor organisation.
NAN
