USAID trains journalists on health coverage

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has trained select journalists in Bauchi State under its Integrated Health Program (IHP) on inclusion of vulnerable residents in health insurance, as part of efforts to achieve universal health coverage.

Speaking, yesterday, at the two-day media engagement in Azare, Katagum Local Council, the Programme Coordinator, Dr. AlHassan Siaka, said that media practitioners needed to engage politicians on the provision of essential human needs.

“We need the journalists to be trained in the health sector. We need them to beam searchlight on what the people are facing. It is not every community that needs roads or other physical projects; some residents need health insurance – these are vulnerable people. They account for about 61 per cent of the population of this state.

“Journalists meet the politicians everyday. We want them to ask them some compelling and informed questions, as they are drawing their manifestos for the 2023 general elections,” he said.

Siaka said the IHP, in partnership with Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency (BHCDA) and Bauchi State Health Contributory Management Agency (BHCMA) spent N41 million in Katagum treating vulnerable residents.