Sign up for our newsletters here:

Dr Jonathan Jiya is the programme manager of Malaria Consortium’s RAcE project in Nigeria. He recently met with senior leaders of communities in Niger state to discuss the implementation of a project which aims to provide healthcare for 150,000 children under five by 2016.

Malaria Consortium’s Rapid Access Expansion (RAcE) project, funded by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade & Development (DFATD) aims to improve the community-level management of childhood malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea in Niger state, Nigeria. In rural areas of Niger state, there is a lack of healthcare services required to treat these conditions, which are the biggest killers of children under five.

The project builds upon existing community-based health interventions, such as integrated community case management (iCCM), and involves working with a number of Nigerian organisations, including the Centre for Communications Programs Nigeria (CCPN) and the Federation of Muslim Women Association Nigeria (FOMWAN).  Malaria Consortium is supporting the Ministry of Health in Niger state to implement iCCM activities in six local government areas (LGAs).

As the project leader for RAcE, I recently met with influential leaders, including senior community leaders and other stakeholders across the six LGAs, in order to mobilise resources and begin implementing iCCM activities. The LGA representatives welcomed the proposed meetings – there were never fewer than 40 people at each one. Discussions focused on the value of iCCM, on reasons why a programme like RAcE is necessary and on how best to select members of each community to take part in the project.

Community leaders and other key stakeholders were briefed on proposed iCCM strategies. As part of the project, Malaria Consortium will train over 1,700 community oriented resource persons (CORPs) and will consequently help to provide basic healthcare by 2016 to over 150,000 children in hard to reach areas of the six selected LGAs. CORPs will be trained to identify and treat the diseases, and will serve as both an access point and a form of continuity of care to existing healthcare systems.

The community leaders I met were asked to select responsible and well-respected members of their communities to be nominated as CORP volunteers. As one objective of the project is to build trust and cooperation between health systems and community members, the input of leaders in selecting role-models from the community is essential. Respected members of the community are in a strong position to influence others and to encourage behaviour changes which can prevent the spread of illnesses.

The second in command to the Emir in Lapai emirate, The Shaba Lapai, welcomed the opportunity to be consulted, saying, “This is the type of project we want. It will save the lives of our children and because the participation of community leaders has been recognised, we will support the project in any way we can for it to succeed”. He went on to say that the community will “support CORPs training and ensure that the community health committees function optimally for progress and abide by the given criteria for selection of CORPs”.

Hajiya Hauwa Usman, a participant at one of the forums, said: “Pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria bring so much pain to mothers and families each year, especially during the rainy season. Malaria Consortium’s RAcE project will reduce this suffering and help children in their communities.” Mallam Garba Hussaini, an Islamic cleric agreed, stating, “We are appreciative of the effort of the state government and RAcE in selecting our communities to benefit from this project”.

The community forums also provided a chance to clear up logistical issues, such as the problem of a lack of storage facilities for the drugs that are being provided. In this instance, the concerns were addressed by promising the provision of portable storage facilities for each CORP. The most positive outcome of the meetings, however, was seeing that community leaders were appreciative of the opportunity to be included in the planning and implementation of RAcE.

 

This post tagged under: