Group Targets Malaria, Tuberculosis Elimination In C’River
2 min read
Godwin AJOM, Calabar
Some local governments in Cross River State are soon to live without being harassed by malaria, according to the Civil Society in Malaria Control, Immunization and Nutrition ACOMIN. The local governments include Abi, Boki, Obudu, Odukpani and Yala, covering the three senatorial districts of the state.
The project is anchored by ACOMIN, with the primary aim of strengthening community based ownership of health facilities, patronage to primary health care, COVID-19 vaccination and community led monitoring and advocacy.
According to Dr Kenneth Takim, Programme Manager, State Malaria Elimination programme, “the CSO ACOMIN is a very critical partner in malaria elimination. They are working with us at the grassroots level creating demand and awareness that enable members of local communities to access health services that will rescue them from their health challenges.”
Stating reasons for ACOMIN involvement, Pastor Effiong Udobong, state coordinator for Civil Society Malaria control, immunization and Nutrition and the Aids Tuberculosis and Malaria Networks, explained that, “we work in these three disease areas, we already know that we don’t have the desired turn out at our health facilities. there is no turn out.
“So we are moving to increase access, demand and services at health facilities in the targeted local government areas which are Abi, Boki, Obudu, Odukpani and Yala. We have identified reasons why people don’t go to health facilities-poor environmental clean- up at the health facilities, lack of community ownership status to the health facilities. So we are stepping in to bridge these gaps,” he said.
A community based organisation representative, Owai Ebenezer, explained their experiences with rural dwellers in the course of implementation of the project, “Our role is to work with the community members, we lead monitoring teams; what we do is to conduct focus group discussions with the chiefs , pregnant women, youth leaders, women leaders and members of the communities on the need for community ownership of health facilities and why they should both take care and patronize the health facilities.
“We have recorded a huge increase in patronage like in Covid-19 up take patronage is now increased, from 250 to 521 monthly administrations, in Ediba community of Abi local government area. The community leaders are also rising to the sanitation and cleaning of the health facilities too, so we are making progress.”