By Ebuka Onyekwelu, Ph.D
The Management Sciences for Health (MSH) has completed the first batch of its Programme for Equitable Expansion of Community-Based Health Workers (PEECH) training in Anambra State. The first batch of the training, which commenced on Monday in Awka with seven local governments including Awka South, Aguata, Anaocha, Anambra West, Anyamelum, Njikoka, and Orumba South, took participants through intensive capacity-building, health management, and leadership training.
In his remarks, the Project Director, Dr. Anddy Omoluabi, said that Anambra State is the first state where MSH is undertaking the training because of Anambra’s commitment to key health deliverables. “This is the first state we are having training like this because of the shared commitment of the State,” Dr. Omoluabi said. He also commended the Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike, for his passion and commitment, noting that the team has already been given an office in the Ministry. “The Commissioner has graciously given us an office at the Ministry of Health.”
MSH is partnering with Anambra State Ministry of Health to train and strengthen Community-Based Health Workers (CBHW) to meet its national target of a “dignified and fulfilling work for about forty-four thousand new Community Health Workforce in Nigeria,” says Dr. Raheed, MSH’s Director of Monitoring and Evaluation during the training.
At the end of the training, participating CBHWs from the seven LGAs are expected to develop an action plan that MSH will use to provide further technical support to community health workers in Anambra State, with support from the Mastercard Foundation. The PEECH project is targeting 18 states across Nigeria and is designed to last until 2028. By this time, about forty-four thousand new and qualified health workers aged between 18 and 35 years are expected to be added to the Community-Based Health Workforce in Nigeria, thereby bridging the gap in access to qualified health workers in hard-to-reach communities.
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