Health
Pate Urges National Health Fellows participants to enhance existing reforms
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, has urged participants of the maiden National Health Fellows Programme to build on the existing health sector reforms.
Pate made the remarks on Wednesday in Abuja, at the training session for participants of the fellowship.
According to him, the participants are future leaders who will accelerate healthcare reform, improve accountability, and have the opportunity to be coached and mentored.
He emphasised the importance of their commitment to contributing to the country’s health sector reforms and to continuous learning, so that together, they can build a stronger, more reliable healthcare system.
The minister noted that the participants’ efforts were crucial in achieving President Bola Tinubu’s vision for a prosperous and healthy Nigeria.
“We are genuinely interested in your development and in giving you the opportunity to learn and to contribute.
“When you exit from the programme, we hope you will acquire skills and some understanding of yourselves that you will sow into the future.”
Regarding the selection process, Pate said that the 774 participants were chosen from about 359,000 applicants, adding that it was a merit-based selection with a huge representation of women, men and disabled population.
He, however, said that the unsuccessful candidates would be encouraged to participate in the Associate Health Fellows programme.
Some of the participants said they saw it as a huge opportunity to serve the nation and pledged to make good use of it.
One of the participants, Mr Godswill Micheal from Sidi Ibom LGA of Akwa Ibom State, said that he had been looking forward to such opportunity and that his participation in the programme has renewed his hope in the country.
He added that he had been working in communities for years and that participating in the programme was an opportunity for him to upscale his activities and do much better for his community.
He urged other Nigerian youths to keep hope alive as the country would get better soon and everyone would enjoy its dividends.
The newly unveiled one-year National Health Fellows Programme is aimed at boosting the health sector.
The programme brought together emerging professionals across several disciplines.
This includes health, health-related fields, information technology, and social sciences intended to cultivate a cadre of highly skilled and motivated health leaders capable of driving innovation in the health sector.
Championed by the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative (HSRII) SWAp Coordination Office under the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, it drew participants from all the 774 LGAs.
NAN
Health
Stakeholders Applaud A360 Impact On Adolescent Health
Stakeholders in Nigeria’s health and development sector say the institutionalisation and scale-up of the Adolescent 360 (A360) Amplify project have greatly improved adolescent sexual and reproductive health outcomes in participating states.
They made this known at a dissemination meeting on the project on Thursday in Abuja.
It was implemented by the Society for Family Health (SFH) and partners, and later adopted into government systems following documented successes.
Launched in 2020, the A360 project was designed to provide adolescent girls with access to sexual and reproductive health information, youth-friendly services and economic empowerment opportunities.
The programme was implemented in Kano, Jigawa, Kaduna and Nasarawa States using a human-centred design approach that engaged governments, communities and young people to improve uptake of family planning and maternal health services.
Dr Aisha Sadiq, Permanent Secretary, Kaduna State Ministry of Health, said institutionalising A360 had delivered measurable improvements in adolescent health indicators and community wellbeing.
She said Kaduna currently provides A360 youth-friendly services in 623 Primary Health Care (PHC) centres.
The Matasan Mata Arewa (MMA) initiative, she added, had reached 75 communities and empowered more than 15,000 girls with entrepreneurship skills and seed capital.
According to her, more than 60,000 girls have accessed contraceptives through the programme, with a reduction in discontinuation rates as more young women sustain use and transition to maternal and child health services.
“These changes have shown a marked reduction in maternal mortality among those communities. It has also reduced negative neonatal outcomes,” she said.
Sadiq recounted an elderly woman’s remarks from a programme community, calling them a strong reflection of the project’s success.
“These girls have spent their whole lives believing they will remain tolerable liabilities to the husbands they marry, but now they are realising the value of becoming appreciated assets,” she quoted.
Sadiq added that Kaduna’s 16 per cent health budget allocation and the integration of A360 activities into the state’s 2025 Annual Operational Plan demonstrated sustained political commitment.
Also speaking, Dr Omokhudu Idogho, Managing Director, SFH, said the four implementing states had successfully embedded A360 approaches into government systems, community structures and routine health practices.
He was represented by Dr Kenechukwu Erichalo, Deputy Managing Director, Project Delivery.
Idogho said the project had reached more than one million adolescent girls with family planning services and engaged over 500,000 others with comprehensive sexuality education messaging.
“We recorded more than 50,000 antenatal care visits, ensuring that girls received skilled care that saved lives, and supported over half a million girls to learn income-generating skills,” he said.
He said A360 pioneered the MMA and Niger Girls models, demonstrating that culturally sensitive, human-centred programmes can succeed even in conservative communities.
“Our most significant achievement is institutionalisation. Today, all 1,750 A360-supported facilities are fully government-led,” he added.
Mrs Roselyn Odeh, A360 Project Lead, said the initiative was developed in response to poor adolescent health indices in the country.
She said the programme ensured respectful, youth-friendly services at PHCs and supported school reintegration and entrepreneurship for girls.
She said the decision to scale the programme in northern states was based on data.
“When you look at maternal mortality among young people, you know the section of the country it is coming from. Data drove our decisions in alignment with government priorities,” she said.
Odeh identified challenges including weak PHC infrastructure, funding gaps, commodity shortages and the need to engage husbands in conservative communities.
“But creatively, we worked with governments to mobilise domestic funding through health revolving funds and the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund,” she said.
Mr Sagir Musa, Commissioner for Youth, Jigawa State, assured of continued commitment from implementing states to sustain and expand the project’s gains.
“This project may be nearing closure, but for us, it has just begun. We have gone beyond its life cycle to embed its approaches in the things we do,” he said.
The dissemination meeting brought together policymakers, community leaders, development partners and beneficiaries to review lessons learned and outline future priorities for scaling adolescent health interventions nationwide.
(NAN)
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