FP Annual Operation Plan meeting at Lagos state with participants from AANI, CHAI, FP zonal coordinators, MoH, State Primary Healthcare Board, Budget & Planning and other partners
As part of efforts to improve allocation and timely releases of family planning funds in Lagos State, dRPC-PACFaH@Scale sub grantee, the Alumni of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (AANI), is appointed by the Lagos state ministry of health to anchor the quarterly Technical Working Group on Family Planning in the State.
The TWG was set up by the state government to drive policy on FP, meet quarterly to discuss issues affecting family planning, and to proffer solutions to the challenges facing FP policies or funding in the state. The group will also assess the performance of the various PHCs and the quality of FP services at all the PHCs in the state. The TWG is also tasked with assessing the performance of the AOP developed for the year in the state.
Announcing the appointment, the Director, Reproductive Health, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Victoria Omera disclosed that the appointment of AANI-PACFaH@Scale to anchor the quarterly TWG meetings was in recognition of its commitment to improving policy implementation of FP in the state.
Dr. Omera added that Lagos State government has achieved a lot in terms of maternal and child health in Nigeria according to the 2018 Demographic and Health Survey that shows that the state has one of the very high percentages of women (80%) delivering by skilled birth attendants, the highest percentage (29%) of women using modern family planning, and the lowest % of children under 5 with no vaccinations (1.7%) in the country. She, then, enjoyed AANI to continue to lead the group to come with up with implementable suggestions to the SMoH so as to improve maternal and child health in the state
Earlier, leader of the AANI-PAS the delegation, Dr (Gen) Shina Ogunbiyi thanked the Lagos state government for appointing AANI-PAS to anchor the quarterly FP meetings and assured that critical issues bordering on FP policies and funding will be discussed and solutions proffered.
Key Stakeholders
Key stakeholders in the TWG are officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Director RH, LSMoH, Directors of all PHCs in the state. Others are, Coordinators of FP, Officers In charge of PHCs, Directors of Local government Health Authorities, A representative of Traditional council in the state and development and donor partners such as NURHI, CHAI, etc
Impact of Anchoring the TWG
With AANI-PAS as anchoring the TWG on FP in Lagos state, the following impact is expected to be achieved:
• Monitoring government interactions on FP in the state
• Monitoring government performance on FP in the state
• Developing scorecard on FP
• Using information and knowledge on FP to conduct advocacies on improved funding and timely releases
This appointment is strategic as it supports dRPC-PAS Primary Investment Outcome 5 which targets the improvement of allocation and timely release of funds through the domestication of federal government policies and the introduction of the state’s specific programs.
