Nigerian Government Adopts Rotary Project “Strengthening the National Health System”

At the recommendation of the Nigerian health minister, the Nigerian government will implement the project “Strengthening the Health System” in all 36 states and in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The project was developed by RFPD and is already introduced in eight states. In the letter of 2nd March 2018 to our National Project Coordinator PDG Dolapo Lufadeju, the minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole thanked Rotary International, in particular RFPD, for the integration of the Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR) and Obstetric Quality Assurance (OQA), into the Nigerian health system. He also thanked the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) for the co-financing and wrote: “The project has been successfully implemented and piloted in 8 states in Nigeria”. The web based tool ‘www.noqa-network.ng’ is built on the principles of regular documentation of salient medical data through remote mobile devices, automatic death notification and online report generation at communal, hospital, state and national level and finally leads to effective interventions based on solid and objective up to date information.
In an ´Advocacy and Sensitisation meeting on Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR)´, the adoption of the Global Grant Project of District 1860 by the Nigerian government was announced by the representative of the health minister Dr. Adebimpe Adebiyi, the director of the Department of Family Health. The German ambassador Bernhard Schlagheck, who was present at the occasion, highlighted the project's importance for Maternal and Child Health in Nigeria and the necessity of improving access to professional family planning services.
The pilot project of Rotary/RFPD in eight Nigerian states, has shown clearly, that data collection and digitalisation enhances the implementation of MPDSR guidelines, as well as optimizing obstetric quality assurance. This is the essential initial point, towards broadening and strengthening of national health systems in a sustainable way. With this successful project, Rotary has shown that an NGO can contribute significantly to a strengthening of a national health system in accordance with the request of the G20 at their last meeting in Hamburg.
RFPD consults clubs and districts which are interested in replicating the project in other countries. RFPD has the capacity to help with the project´s necessary technical procedures, especially at government departments, to complete sample applications for a Global Grant and for co-financing by government agencies.