By GARBA MUHAMMAD and NAFISAT MOHAMMED,Kaduna

The Kaduna Maternal Accountability Mechanism (KADMAM) presented the Rapid Assessment Covid-19 Response.

The presentation was made on Thursday in Kaduna at a one-day stakeholder consultative dialogue on Covid-19 response and validation of harmonised year 2021 draft Annual Operational Plan (AOP) for the health sector in Kaduna State.

The programme is part of the quarterly #OpenKaduna health sector as a mechanism for continued efforts in ensuring that service deliveries are up to standard.

According to the presentation, primary health care centers are the first line of support to communities and are relatively informed on the Covid-19 health protocols.

The presentation highlighted a shortfall in the provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs).

“Almost 50% of the facilities have inadequate PPEs with 30% being without PPEs,” Abdulrahman Mikail, chairman, Evidence sub-committee of KADMAM said in the presentation.

KADMAM recommended the need to provide sufficient PPEs to health facilities, upgrade facilities and put a proper monitoring mechanism to ensure effective distribution and utilisation of PPEs where available.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created substantial shock and set back across the entire globe. It has burdened the health institutions in both developed and developing nations.

In Nigeria, the health sector's response to the Covid-19 is built on existing multi-sectoral efforts to address the current challenges peculiar in African sub-region.

Technical Adviser to the Commissioner of Health, Lawal Abubakar, presented the 3rd quarter health performance report, where he explained that it was developed on five principles which are: accountability and inclusiveness, application of rigour, use of evidence, health plan linkages and integration of policy initiatives.

The Technical Adviser also explained that the plan was created through the situational analysis, bottle-neck analysis, post-field analysis and SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis.

Also making a presentation was the Director Planning, Research and Statistics, State Ministry of Health, Dr. Joseph Sunday.

Dr. Sunday presented the Validation of year 2021 draft health sector budget. He noted that the state strategic health development plan comprised of five pillars and fifteen priority areas.

He also stated that some common problems in the AOP development included: activity not SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound), activity has no proper ownership, no clear cost drivers, appearing in multiple places amongst others.

The event (physical and virtual) brought together relevant stakeholders in the health sector, citizens, civil society organizations, media personnel and key government officials to discuss and provide recommendations to issues concerning the sector.

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