By Sade Oguntola
EXECUTIVE Secretary, Oyo State Primary Health Care Board, Dr Muideen Olatunji has assured that increased funding for services at the PHC levels will ensure malaria services in the state continue even with the expiration of partners’ support.
Dr Olatunji, speaking at the State Malaria Elimination Programme and US President’s Malaria Initiative for States (PMI-S), to review malaria advocacy tool for the state, said funding for primary health care services recently received a boost from the federal allocation to LGAs, Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) and the Immunisation Plus and Malaria Progress by Accelerating Coverage and Transforming Services (IMPART) Project, among others.
According to him, “at any time, funds may never be said to be enough; we can always strengthen and improve on funding by looking inward and thinking outside the box.
“Every month in the state, we have about 75 per cent of the federal allocation to the LGA dedicated to PHC services among which you have malaria services as a component statutorily. Also, we have a sustainable procurement of drugs in the PHC.
“We are also leveraging BHCF which is designed to support and sustain services across the PHC facilities. Since last year, we have had flagship facilities in each 351 political wards dedicated and linked with the BHCF services. Again, Oyo State is listed among the states in Nigeria that is undergoing the IMPART meant to increase immunization services.”
State coordinator, US President’s Malaria Initiative for States Project, Dr Esther Ayandipo, said that reviewing the advocacy tool was to help to continue the fight in the malaria control space.
Ayandipo, speaking through Dr Motunrayo Fagbola, said “the document, targeted at various people, is to support the state in generating resources internally to take malaria away from our community, since we know the support from outside Nigeria will not continue forever.”
She added, “From the previous advocacy we did, when you get to health facilities now, malaria commodities are available and free, meaning that anybody that is tested and confirmed to have malaria can get a free malaria drug for treatment.
“Also, pregnant women are given free long lasting insecticide treated nets (LLIN) as well as sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) for the prevention of malaria in pregnancy (IPTp), among many other things. So we need to keep going back to remind them of these things so that every gain we have made thus far on malaria is not lost. We cannot continue to rely on partners to sustain all these gains.”
Earlier, SBCC and Advocacy Manager, Nigeria Interfaith Action Association (NIFAA), Mrs Iheanyi Kalu said the meeting was to bring a review of the malaria advocacy tool developed in 2021 to ensure it remains state specific and aligns with the current situation and needs of the state.
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