Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health at Scale (PACFaH@Scale)

REPORT ON THE TASK SHIFTING TASK SHARING POLICY LAUNCH AT ANAMBRA STATE

Dr. Stanley Ilechukwu SSDO-PAS

Introduction

In July 2018, Anambra State Ministry of Health with support form SSDO-PAS committed to

the domestication of the National TSTS policy and has since executed a number of activities

to bring this to fruition. The activities include policy dialogue, committee meetings by the

policy technical working group and stakeholder forums. These activities have led to the

development of a validated TSTS policy which speaks to the specific Human Resource for

Health (HRH) challenges of Anambra State, which is scheduled to be launched on February

25th 2020 at Chichotel Awka Anambra State by 11:00 am.

The Launch

The launch began 11:30 am with the following individuals called to the high table

1. Honourable Commissioner of Health, Anambra State Ministry of Health

2. Special Adviser to the Governor on Health and the Executive Secretary Anambra State

Health Insurance Agency

3. The Director of Public Health, Anambra State Ministry of Health

4. The Executive Secretary, Anambra State Primary Health Care Development Agency

5. Representative of The Chairman, Anambra State Civil Service Commission

6. Representative of The Head of Service, Anambra State

Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health at Scale (PACFaH@Scale)

Figure 1: The Director of Public

Health, Anambra State Ministry of

Health- Dr. Onyejimbe; Special

Adviser to the Governor on Health and

the Executive Secretary Anambra State

Health Insurance Agency- Dr.

Onyemaechi; Honorable

Commissioner of Health, Anambra

State Ministry of Health, Dr. Vincent

Okpala; The Executive Secretary,

Anambra State Primary Health Care

Development Agency, Dr. Chioma

Ezenyimulu; Representative from the

Anambra State Civil Service

Commission - Mrs Udealor;

Representative from the Anambra State Head of Service – Mr Harry Udu

The Reproductive Health

Coordinator for the State

Ministry of Health – Dr. Uju

Okoye gave a brief history of

the state’s path towards the

policy development, listing

the various milestones

achieved. She particularly

thanked SSDO-PAS for the

support given for the project

as well as other stakeholders,

most especially the health

associations who put in the

hard work to ensure that the

policy was developed, validated and launched irrespective of their professional fealty.

Figure 2: The Reproductive Health Coordinator for Anambra State Ministry of Health – Dr. Uju Okoye

Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health at Scale (PACFaH@Scale)

Dr. Stanley Ilechukwu of SSDO-PAS thanked the state government for having the courage to

drive the process and see to it that the policy was developed. He also reminded them of the

need to follow through after the launch and ensure that the policy and the guidance given within

is distributed throughout the state, while also ensuring that funding is earmarked to build the

capacity of the various health cadres to the level recommended by the policy.

Figure 3: The Executive Director of South Saharan Social Development Organization (SSDO) -Dr. Stanley Ilechukwu

Other stakeholders congratulated the state with the State chapters of the Nigerian Medical

Association and the Nigerian Association of Nurses and Midwives admonishing that the policy

should not deter the government from engaging more health workers in the state since the

policy is a stop-gap measure to deal with the shortage in the quantity, quality and distribution

of Human resource for Health (HRH). They were hopeful that if employment levels increase,

the policy would become redundant in a couple of years.

Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health at Scale (PACFaH@Scale)

Development partners in the state especially Association of Reproductive and Family Health

(ARFH) and The Challenge Initiative (TCI) also felicitated with the state as the policy provides

a legal framework for their introduction of LARC capacity building for CHEWs in public

health facilities.

Figure 4: Anambra NMA Secretary -Dr. Nwajiaku

Figure 7: Secretary PSN Anambra - Pharm Ikefuna Lawrence

Figure 9: The Challenge Initiative - Mr. Egbe Figure 8: ARFH- Dr. Egbo Ifeoma

Figure 5: Association of Medial Lab Scientists - Ezenwa Uchenna

Figure 6: Secretary National Association of Nigeian Nurses and Midwives, Anambra - Onwuka Edith

Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health at Scale (PACFaH@Scale)

The HCH Dr. Vincent Okpala presented his speech where he thanked dRPC, SSDO-PAS and

other stakeholders that contributed to the policy’s development. He highlighted the need for

the policy in the state given the state’s HRH challenges and the benefits that will accrue to the

state due to its adoption especially with regards to the state’s health indices which he hoped

would improve significantly after the policy’s full implementation. However, he sued for

caution and extensive deliberation in its implementation across the state.

Figure 10: Honorable Commissioner of Health, Anambra State Ministry of Health

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Health and the Executive Secretary of the Anambra

State Health Insurance Agency, Dr. Onyemechi stressed the need for those to whom tasks have

been shared or shifted to always refer when necessary and for continuous supportive

supervision and mentoring of trained personnel.

Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health at Scale (PACFaH@Scale)

Subsequently, the HCH officially launched the TSTS Policy

Figure 11: TSTS Policy Launch

The event closed with SSDO-PAS thanking the state once more for their commitment to the

policy, encouraging them to ensure its full implementation and pledging to make herself

available whenever the state needs her services.

After the launch, there was a short meeting held between the Commissioner of Health, The

Project Director SSDO-PAS, The State Lead TCI and the FP Coordinator, with respect to the

development of the state’s Family Planning Costed Implementation Plan (FP-CIP). The

Commissioner informed us that the State’s counterpart fund of two million naira for the FP-

CIP development and launch would be made available within two weeks and he is hopeful that

TCI and SSDO-PAS would make good on their pledges to support the process for which

SSDO-PAS and TCI reiterated their commitment to the process.

Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health at Scale (PACFaH@Scale)

ANNEXES

1. AGENDA

TIME ACTIVITY RESPONSIBLE PERSON

11.00am-11.30

am

Arrival/Registration All

11.30am-11.40am Opening Prayer Volunteer

11.40am-11.50am Introduction of participants All

11.50am-12.00pm Opening Remark DPRS SMOH

12.00pm-12.30pm Goodwill Messages from Partners SSDO-PAS, WHO, UNICEF,

TCI, ARFH, IPAS

12.30pm-12.50pm Goodwill Messages from Professional

Bodies

NMA, NANNM, PSN, Med

Lab., Pharm Tech, CHEW

12.50pm-1.10pm Address Hon Commissioner for Health

1.10pm-1.30pm The Unveiling of the Policy Document Hon Commissioner for Health

1.30pm-1.40pm Closing Remark SSDO-PAS

1.40pm-1.45pm Closing Prayer Volunteer

2. ADDRESS OF THE HONORABLE COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH

HCH TSTSP ADDRESS.docx

3. TSTSP LAUNCH ATTENDANCE

TSTSP Launch Attendance.pdf