Stakeholders in Kebbi State, in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) State2State, have ratified a five-year development plan for the health sector.
At a four-day workshop held in Sokoto, themed: “Kebbi State 2025-2029 Strategic Health Development Plan”, USAID State2State partnered with the Kebbi State Ministry of Health to develop a health sector strategic plan, including policy, programme implementation and service delivery.
It served as an avenue to review and harmonise thematic content and develop a draft of the Kebbi State 2025 to 2029 health development plan with goals, strategic objectives, and interventions.
Other areas of concentration at the meeting are understanding the macroeconomic implications for costing and discussing the plan’s financial and human resource needs according to thematic areas.
In his welcome address, the permanent secretary of the Kebbi State Ministry of Health, Dr Shehu Nuhu Koko, acknowledged USAID State2State support and collaboration in reviewing the state strategic health plan, which has expired since 2022.
Shehu expressed optimism that the workshop’s outcome will align the state health sector plan with national health policies, achieving universal health coverage by 2030.
“This workshop is expected to map out five-year strategic plans in the health sector in conformity with the national health care strategic plans, which will guarantee improvement in health care financing, human resources for health, and health infrastructure to be put in place with all necessary amenities, especially at the PHC level.
“All these are achievable with the implementation of the universal health coverage, with the innovation to bring the private sector into health financing”, he said.
Buttressing the need for her presence at the health stakeholders meeting, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Hajiya Aisha Usman said, ”This, being a planning event, the presence of the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning is essential to give technical support and enable us to do Medium-Term Sector Strategic (MTSS), planning that will form part of the 2025 budget process”.
Emphasising the need for policy synergy within the health sector, state team lead, USAID State2State, Usman Faleye urged participants to maximise the workshop’s gains in turning around the fortune of Kebbi State’s health sector through strategic plans.
There were presentations on health data, the current state strategic health development plan (2017-2022), the need for reviewing the current plan, and an introduction to basic strategic planning, its importance, and key components by the consultant, Olatunji Awoleye hired by the Kebbi State Ministry of Health.