The Kano State Primary Healthcare Management Board (KSPHCMB) says it has begun using data from the Integrated Supportive Supervision (ISS) for its annual plan and facility development.
The ISS Coordinator, Sagir Muhammad, disclosed this on Monday at a two-day Media Engagement Workshop organised by the International Society of Media in Public Health (ISMPH) for selected journalists in Kano.
The workshop is designed to equip journalists with skills to amplify and frame narratives on Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) accountability scorecards using evidence-based insights from ISS and PHC-FAT findings.
Muhammad said the use of ISS data had resulted in significant improvement in the performance of PHC facilities across the state, though more interventions were still required.
“The overall improvement observed in PHC facility performance can be attributed to the interventions implemented through the rounds of the redesigned ISS, which informed and guided facility-level resource allocation and utilisation.
“Notable to mention is the ongoing PHC revitalisation across over 240 PHC facilities,” he said.
He explained that the decision to redesign the supportive supervision was informed by the need to generate reliable data for evidence-based decision-making.
“We began by reviewing and compiling all the existing supervision tools currently being used across different areas, including immunisation, quality of healthcare, the Minimum Service Package (MSP), and other relevant programmes.
“These tools were subsequently harmonised and consolidated into a single, comprehensive framework known as the Redesigned Integrated Supportive Supervision (RISS).
“Supportive supervision happens quarterly because of the disbursement and retirement of funds, as all facilities rely on that funding to implement their work plans.
“ISS data informed the development of Facility Improvement Plans (FIP) and also led to performance improvement over time.
“Under infrastructure, when we started, only two per cent of facilities had access to power supply, but we have now achieved 40 per cent. Similarly, security of facilities improved from two per cent to 40 per cent,” Muhammad said.
Also speaking, the Programme Manager of EngenderHealth, Jumare Abdulaziz, said the use of ISS data for annual planning would ensure that planning at the PHC facilities was based on the actual needs of the facilities and the patients.
He said the essence of the workshop was to equip the journalists on how to interpret the data and ensure narratives shifted through storytelling, message framing and media engagement.
“ISS data is recognised as evidence of real system performance, not just monitoring output,” he said.
Earlier, the Executive Director of ISMPH, Moji Makanjuola, said improving health outcomes required not only reliable data but also a media that could accurately interpret, contextualise and communicate such data to the public.
Makanjuola, represented by her Programmes/MEAL Manager, Philip Muoneke, stressed the importance of evidence-based health reporting and the need to strengthen accountability within the PHC system.
