To eradicate childhood diarrhea in Northern Nigeria, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa said it has reached over 38,980 caregivers in 80 health facilities in Sokoto and Kano states.
The Founder-President, Mrs. Toyin Ojora Sakari, who disclosed this at a three-day summit, under the Scaling Up of Zinc and LO-ORS for the Treatment of Childhood Diarrhoea in Northern Nigeria Project, funded by the Government of Canada, said the organisation identified the Drug Revolving Fund (DRF) scheme as a key factor towards promoting the overall wellbeing of end-users of drugs and medical services.
The Foundation gave an outline of the strategies undertaken to promote comprehensive access, availability and management of Nigeria’s Essential Medicines List, with a focus on the DRF/DMA strengthening.
The summit was held in partnership with Nutrition International, national and international stakeholders, and hosted by the Federal Ministry of Health’s National Product Supply Chain Management Programme (NPSCMP) on New Approaches to DRF/DMA Set-Up in Nigeria.
According to her, improving treatment outcomes in childhood diarrhoea requires access and availability to medicines that mothers trust.
“Supporting Sokoto and Kano states to increase and sustain availability and access to zinc and LO-ORS commodities by strengthening their DRF schemes is catalysing modern medicine with better supply chain and financial procurement management in tangential action with health systems strengthening, deploying a dedicated midwifery and nursing workforce to reach community healthcare facilities and households – creating statewide behavioral change, is delivering measurable improvements where they are needed most.”
National Programmes Lead of the organisation, Dr. Otun Adewale, said to achieve the universal health coverage, a sustainable and implementable DRF and DMA system was pivotal, noting that “there is need for collaboration between the Federal Government- led National Product Supply Chain Management Programme and the international and local non-governmental organisations.
“I assure you of the commitment of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa in working with stakeholders to strengthen the DRF scheme in the states and supporting the National Product Supply Chain Management Programme (NPSCMP) to achieve a workable scheme.”
The project has already trained nearly 800 health workers and administrators of selected primary and secondary health facilities in Kano and Sokoto states. The partners plan to increase the number of caregivers, who seek prompt care for cases of childhood diarrhoea by an additional 2,238,439 by 2023.
