Report of the international Workshop on Universal Health Coverage [UHC], under the theme ‘Investments in Health Systems Benefit Everyone – making it work’; organized by Afrihealth Optonet Association (AHOA), 9 December 2021
AFRIHEALTH OPTONET ASSOCIATION (AHOA)
Report of the international Workshop on Universal Health Coverage [UHC], under the theme ‘Investments in Health Systems Benefit Everyone – making it work’; organized by Afrihealth Optonet Association (AHOA), 9 December 2021
Adirieje,
Uzodinma[1];
Sarai, Aina'u Musa[2]
Contents:
1. Background
and Introduction
2. Welcome
Statement
3.
Presentations
4. Discussions
5. Agreements/Resolutions
and Next Steps
6. Conclusions
7. Registered Participants
Background and
Introduction:
Afrihealth Optonet Association (AHOA) is a
community-focused CSOs network/think-tank of about 1000 organizations in the
global South with focus on Biodiversity, Ecosystems, Energy, Climate Change,
the promotion of Health as a state of complete physical, mental and social
well-being, and the SDGs; using partnerships, advocacy,
research/evidence-generation, capacity development, outreaches, and monitoring
and evaluation (M&E) as strategies; while focusing on rural and poor urban
communities, marginalized, vulnerable and disadvantaged populations especially
women, children, adolescents and elderly; and exploring the nexus/interlinkages
between Health, Energy and Environment – including climate change, biodiversity
and ecosystems, Nutrition and Food Security, and Gender, Good Governance and
Human Rights. AFRIHEALTH has a Consultative Status at the United Nations
ECOSOC.
The Universal
Health Coverage (UCH) workshop was organized by AHOA to commemorate the World
UCH Day which has become the global cornerstone of efforts to achieving
"Health For All, Leave No One Behind " and also to achieve collective
global prosperity for all people.
The Conference
was convened on the 9th of December 2021 online via Zoom platform at 2:00pm
GMT.
Welcome Statement
Dr. Uzodinma
Adirieje, CEO Afrihealth Optonet Association welcomed the participants and
explained why investing in health systems benefits everyone. He hoped that all have
gathered in the spirit of ‘leave no one behind’ to discuss Universal Health
Coverage and strategies to attain it for everyone, everywhere.
Presentations/Papers:
Kristine
Yakhama (Kenya), Coordinator, Good Health Community Programmes/zonal leader
Kakamega MNCH Alliance, reported on the birth of a pilot program for UCH in
four (4) counties by a sitting President of Kenya in 2018. The program failed
in 3 counties due to lack of data and failure to involve the county governors.
Lack of data and coordination, misinterpretation and corrupt practices became a
hinderance.
The Governors
when involved, changed the objectives of the program by collecting conditional
grants from Danida funds to upgrade health facilities to level 5 which removed
access to free healthcare services.
Kagamega MNCH
Alliance did a social audit and discovered a lot of gaps and challenges that
posed a threat during the Covid-19 Pandemic namely:
·
Lack of oxygen in healthcare facilities
·
Health workers were not covered
·
Monopoly in health facilities supply
·
Loss of community ownership of health facilities
·
Failure of National government to release funds
to counties on time
·
Withdrawal of conditional grant
·
Failed Linda-mama program
·
Removal of User fees
·
Lack of support to technical staff
·
Allocation of 60% of health Budget
To overcome these challenges, an interface
involving key stakeholders was done and priorities set which were used to
inform the budget making processes. She appealed to Kenya National Government
to increase health allocation to 80% so that UCH will be achieved.
Babacar THIAM (Senegal),
Head of NGO-AWA programs explain to the listening audience the key facts in
health services delivery. The number of people who falls into extreme poverty
each year due to health financing problems and the resolution by all UN member
states to achieve UCH by 2030.
PHCs account
for nearly 80-90% health coverage but the wide gap in human resources is
hindering its success. He therefore explains what UCH is all about, it's
requirements, challenges and strategies to achieving Universal Health Coverage.
He called on AHOA to work on a realistic and robust action plan that
will influence Civil Society to adopt the best strategies to attaining
Universal Health Coverage.
Dr. Elicana
Nduhuura (Uganda), Cochair - External Relations, Patient Centred Care Movement
Africa.
In a paper
titled ‘Patient Centered Care and Our Relevance in Universal Health Coverage’,
talked about integration of medical students into the healthcare system in the
context of patient centered care. He explained who they are, what they do and
why them. He explained the relationship between patient centered care and
achieving universal health coverage by 2030. The relevance of medical students
cannot be overemphasized as it was one of them that discovered Heparin in the
year 1957.
He therefore
recommended as follow:
·
Integration of patient centered care into medical
training
·
Reshaping the attitude of healthcare providers
into patient centered professionals
·
Training of healthcare providers to be mindful,
informative and emphatic.
He concluded
by drawing the attention of Participants to support all students in their
respective countries, to orient them and remind them of their love in
advocating for patient centered care which will translate to Universal Health
Coverage that will benefit all.
Discussions:
Dr. Bernadette
Ateghang-Awankem pointed to lack of a consensus in Universal Health Coverage. She
emphasized the needs to come up with some creative and innovative ways of
dealing with healthcare financing especially within missed and rural
communities. Communities should be encouraged to think about health as a key
pillar of development and make good use of Community Health Workers. Lack of
infrastructure in PHC is hindering the UCH.
Her
recommendations were as follow:
·
Activism that will influence the Government to
deliberately and intentionally democratize and decentralize healthcare for
communities to claim ownership
·
Moving the healthcare from the 8th corridor into
the normal economy
In response to
Mr. Elicana's presentation, she says that UCH was billed on strengthening
health systems be it education, health promotion or health literacy. So in order
to guarantee sustainability, training, retraining, mentoring, space creation
and forums for transfer of knowledge to younger generations is key. To achieve
UCH, evidence-based Implementation strategies must come to play and students
have resources that can be utilized to carry out educative work and set up that
evidence.
Charles
Okwemba, analyze the late payments of stipends to community health volunteers
which has a negative effect on health system. He advised to look for ways to
overcome this challenge. His views were supported by Kristine Yakhama.
Hon.
Dr. Edward Ihejirika explained that UCH is something that
is paramount to healthcare. During his time in office as Hon Commissioner of
Health in Imo State of Nigeria in 2013, he tried to incorporate UCH into the
Nigeria National health act 2014. To make UCH a reality, they perform some
interventions such as:
·
Collaborating with office of
millennium goals of the presidency to ensure capacity expansion to PHC
·
Ensuring accessibility and good flow
from PHC to secondary care
·
Supply of infrastructures to general
hospitals
·
Provision of health insurance for
basic healthcare services
·
Issuance of social cards to poorest
to the poor
·
Launch of free healthcare services to
pregnant women and under 5 children in designated hospitals across the state.
Kristine
Yakhama explained that World Bank is supporting in salaries for UHC staff in
health facilities
Boniface Koson reported that
Youth Progressive Association in Taraba, Nigeria is currently carrying out a
project on community LED monitoring to health facilities in Taraba State, to
ensure Accountability and transparency and other health awareness
Agreements/Resolutions:
1) To attain
UHC, three strategic thrusts are to be pursued, namely:
·
Financial risk protection through expansion in
enrollment and benefit delivery of respective Health Insurance Programs (HIPs);
·
Improved
access to quality hospitals and health care facilities; and
·
Attainment of health-related Sustainable Development
Goals (Health SDGs).
2)
CSOs to influence budget decisions by advocating for increased allocations to
healthcare
3)
CSOs to work within the framework of their influences
4)
Create framework for the private sector to be more participatory in providing
UHC
5)
Increase activism towards good governance, monitoring, evaluation and reporting
of UHC interventions.
Conclusions:
Universal
Health Coverage is a global target and Goal 4 of SDG challenges across nations
are similar. CSOs have a role to play in attaining UCH by 2030.
Registered
Participants:
1. Kristine
Yakhama; Good Health Community Programmes Kakamega County, Kenya
2. Queen
Ogbuji, Program Coordinator, Association For Reproductive and Family
Health(ARFH), Nigeria
3. Aina'u Musa
Sarai, Secretary Joint meetings of TAGs Forum Afrihealth Optonet Association (AHOA)
- CSOs Network
4. Ford Bosco,
Executive Director of Alliance for Sustainable Development Organization (ASDO),
from Kigali, Rwanda.
5. Mrs.
Mopelola Olubunmi Akeju, Chair/ CEO of NGO - EVERGREEN CONSUMER ADVOCACY AND
SAFETY (ECASI) Nigeria.
6. Michael A.
Idah, Secretary General, Christian Health Association of Nigeria (CHAN), Little
Rayfield, Jos. Plateau State. Nigeria.
7. Charles
Okwemba HSC of Alpha Support Development Programme NGO, HSC member at Kakamega
MNCH alliance
8. Dr.
Bernadette Ateghang-Awankem; Pan African Health Systems Network, Germany.
9. Krystal
Anyanwu, ED, Centre for Family Health Initiative (CFHI), Nigeria
10. Temple
Bright, Citizens Rights Development Center, Nigeria.
11. Odufuwa
Remi Jp, dept of psychiatry, Lagos University teaching hospital, idiaraba,
Lagos, Nigeria.
12. Dr.
Uzodinma Adirieje; CEO, Afrihealth Optonet Association (AHOA) - CSO Network.
13. Oluwadare
Femisola; CEO Community Empowerment Initiative, Nigeria. Member Afrihealth
Optonet Association.
14. Princess
Okhaifoh, Program Officer, Centre for Family Health Initiative (CFHI). Abuja,
Nigeria
15. Francis
Okonkwo, Community Mobilization Consultant, Continental Business and Leadership
LTD, Abuja.
16.
Dr.
Francisca Nwaokorie; Department of Medical Laboratory Science. College of
Medicine University of Lagos
17.
Mr. Elicana Nduhuura (Uganda), Cochair - External Relations, Patient Centred Care Movement
Africa
18.
Babacar
THIAM (Senegal), Head of NGO-AWA programs
19.
Hon. Dr Edward Ihejirika
20.
Nicholas Meylan.
21.
Balqiaz Khan, Executive Director RIHRDO (Rural Infrastructure and Human Resource
Development Organization), Pakistan
22.
Yoila
Samari Raymond from Tansana Health and Community Integrated Development
Initiative Jalingo Taraba.
23.
Emmanuel
K. Fugah, CYDEF, Ghana
24.
Dorothy Nuhu-Aken'Ova, International Center for Sexual Reproductive
Rights
25.
Christopher Isah, Institute of Human Virology (IHV), Nigeria.
26.
DR. Anima Sharma, India.
Contact AHOA:
Email:
afrihealthoptonet2@gmail.com
Facebook:
https://web.facebook.com/afrihealth
Instagram:
@druzoadirieje; https://www.instagram.com/druzoadirieje/
Twitter:
@uaadirieje; https://twitter.com/uaadirieje
Skype:
druzoadirieje, druzoadirieje2015@gmail.com;
Zoom:
druzoadirieje2015@gmail.com
LinkedIn:
https://ng.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Dr.+Uzodinma/Adirieje
Phone,
Telegram & WhatsApp: +234 803 472 5905
Website:
http://www.afrihealthcsos.org
https://afrihealthoptonetassociation.blogspot.com
Blog: http://druzodinmadirieje.blogspot.com
P.O. Box 8880,
Wuse Abuja, Nigeria
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