The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in its aim to improve the standard of life of the people in Anambra State has set machinery in motion to provide human resources, health infrastructure and quality service development in the state.

The training programme, which was in collaboration between the Anambra State Primary Health Care Development Agency (ASPHCDA) and UNICEF was put together for the aim of improving the delivery services of Primary Health Care Centers in the 21 local government areas of the state.

Speaking during a training programme on minimum services for the state, a UNICEF Health Specialist, Dr. Ifenyinwa Anyayo said that though the package had been existing at the national level, the world body decided to replicate it to the state to reach out to a larger population.

She said the idea was for the state to domesticate the outcome of the training as it would lead to the reduction in mortality and morbidity rate among pregnant woman, as well as childhood killer diseases among children in the state.

Anyanyo urged the health authorities to develop a document that would serve as a reference document for Anambra State concerning any form of work in the area of Primary Health Care (PHC) delivery system.

Earlier in his address, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joe Akabuike said the minimum service package, MSP, would aid the state government to have a minimum standard for Primary Health Care facilities, identify the difference between a health centre and a health post, as well as skills of the personnel that head them, including their functions.

He said the document to be produced after the training would serve as a guideline for the state, the donor agencies or philanthropists, who wished to build, renovate or equip PHCs in the state.

On her part, the Executive Secretary of Anambra State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Chioma Ezenyimulu explained that the agency had outlined 10 pillars of operation to be executed in the state.

She explained that once they were put in place, primary health care delivery in the state would be second to none in the country.

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