Ondo, World Bank to revamp primary healthcare system with N13b

ment and World Bank have said N13.5 billion will be invested in infrastructure, personnel and provision of drugs to patients, in order to revamp the state’s primary healthcare system.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the initiative is tagged: Immunization Plus and Malaria Progress By Accelerating Coverage and Transforming Services (IMPACT PROJECT).

Dr. Pius Omode, the Project Manager of Impact Project, stated this on Tuesday in Akure during a stakeholders’ engagement meeting on the IMPACT Project.

According to Omode, the project will end this year because our implementation is just like approximately one and a half years.

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“So far, within the one and half years, we have spent N1.5 billion across the malaria component and the immunization plus component.

“For 2025, we are planning to spend up to N12 billion for the two components, that is for malaria activities and for immunization plus activities,” he said.

“IMPACT Project is about improving immunization services, improving reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health care service delivery, as well as nutrition and malaria prevention.

“102 primary health facilities have been awarded for upgrading and there will be procurement of drugs to patients in all primary healthcare facilities,” he said.

Also speaking, Dr. Francis Akanbiemu, the Permanent Secretary of Ondo State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, commended Gov. Lucky Aiyedatiwa for paying attention to the primary healthcare facilities in the state.

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Akanbiemu added that the IMPACT Project had come to provide many interventions to change the indices from negative to positive in the primary healthcare system.

According to him, the greatest killer diseases are preventive and they can be tackled through immunization.

“The renovation of primary health facilities has begun in the first phase, and the project has introduced digitization processes in the system,” he said.

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Bayo Phillip, state Head of Service (HoS), who declared the stakeholders’ meeting open, said that the project was in line with the state government’s blueprint.

Phillip added that the state government had concluded the recruitment of medical officers and nurses, adding that other medical personnel would follow.

He urged the traditional birth attendants to always refer pregnant women with difficult cases to the government-owned health facilities to reduce child and maternal mortality in the state.