Community &Health Systems &Treatment Bill Brieger | 05 Nov 2014 08:32 am
Expanding Health Ministry Capacity to Deliver Malaria and Other Health Commodities at the Community Level in Nigerian States
Bright Orji of Jhpiego‘s Nigeria office presents a poster at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2014 Annual Meeting at noon on 5th November. The poster represents Jhpiego’s technical assistance provided to seven Nigerian States as part the World Bank Malaria Booster Program. The abstract follows:
The highly participative process of community directed interventions (CDI) was first pioneered in 1996 by the African Program for Onchocerciasis Control for the delivery of ivermectin. CDI was further tested and found effective in delivering other health commodities.
In 2007 Jhpiego began a proof of concept project in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria and learned that CDI could be a useful vehicle for increasing access to and coverage of malaria in pregnancy interventions. Building on this success, Jhpiego expanded this work to include integrated community case management of malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia. through community led efforts.
The World Bank Malaria Booster Program, observing Jhpiego’s efforts in Akwa Ibom State, asked the Nigeria National Malaria Control Program to enlist Jhpiego’s help in building the capacity of seven State Ministries of Health (MOH) to organize CDI for what was termed the malaria plus package consisting of community case management and health promotion activities. The scale-up process started with workshops for state CDI implementation teams consisting of staff from malaria control and primary health care in the MOHs.
Then these state teams developed their own intervention packages and organized workshops for local government teams, who in turn trained staff from their front line health facilities. These facility staff mobilized communities in their facility catchment areas (wards) to select volunteers for training on the CDI process and intervention package.
Although technical assistance was provided to each state, challenges arose including commodity supplies and coordination among different program units within the state MOHs. In conclusion, state teams can train local government teams, ultimately cascading CDI to the community in order to scale up maternal and child health interventions.