From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Rivers State has won the coveted prize as the Best Performing State in the South-South region in the Primary Healthcare Leadership Challenge, emerging as the South-South champion and national runner-up.
This was announced at an event organised by the Nigeria Governors Forum and supported by UNICEF, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Aliko Dangote Foundation, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency on Thursday night.
At the awards and gala night ceremony, held at the State House Banquet Hall, Rivers State received a $500,000 award for being the best in the South-South region and the second best in the country, demonstrating the consistent hard work of the health teams in the state despite apparent challenges.
Deputy Governor Prof. Ngozi Odu, who represented the governor and led the state delegation to receive the award, praised the organisers, including their Independent Verification Teams and Independent Judging Panel, for their objective evaluation and assessment of the state’s performance among others in the federation.
The Primary Health Care (PHC) Leadership Challenge is a flagship programme of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF). It builds on the Seattle Declaration agreement for stronger sub-national leadership in primary healthcare in Nigeria and aims to revitalise the Primary Health Care Under One Roof (PHCUOR) policy by galvanising stronger commitments from state governors to promote a progressive increase in PHC funding.
The initiative is geared towards ensuring improved infrastructure in all primary healthcare centres, with strengthened human resource capacity.
The governor stated:
“This award and national recognition will undoubtedly enable us to double down on existing efforts to strengthen the quality and expand the reach of primary healthcare in Rivers State in alignment with our #Health4AllRivers Strategy towards Universal Health Coverage.
“Exactly one year ago, I was opportune to stand alongside the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum and my brother state governors to sign the Presidential Compact for Nigeria’s health sector renewal.
“This award and recognition clearly demonstrate our commitment to that compact as a commitment to providing quality healthcare services and improving the health of not just the people of Rivers State but the nation at large.”
In her remarks, the State Commissioner for Health, Adaeze Oreh, expressed gratitude to Governor Siminalayi Fubara for providing the enabling environment and support for the ministry to perform. She stated that with the people-centred policy focus of the administration, the health sector in Rivers State will be transformed to deliver affordable and accessible healthcare services to all strata of society in the shortest possible time.