It has been stressed that an efficient and effective Community healthcare delivery service will play a significant role in promoting reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH).
The assertion was made by UNICEF Health Officer, Okuseyi Olosunde during a Media Dialogue on Investing in Women to promote community health systems, a case study of the mama2mama initiative in UNICEF Bauchi Field Office held at Evolution Hotel in Gombe.
According to him, community health refers to simple health services that are delivered by laymen outside hospitals and clinics as an initial process of attending to an illness especially those that affect women.
Oluseyi Olosunde stressed that Community health programmes are meant to address disparities in healthcare services by ensuring that there is equitable access to health resources by all.
According to him, a community health system (CHS) is a set of local actors, relationships, and processes engaged in producing, advocating for, and supporting health in communities and households outside the formal health system.
He added that Community Health Systems is also the name of one of the nation’s leading healthcare providers, which operates healthcare delivery systems in 40 distinct markets across 15 states of the country.
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The UNICEF Health Officer added that Community health volunteers and community health workers work with primary care providers to facilitate entry into, exit from and utilisation of the formal health system by community members.
He explained that the need for a Community Health System arose due to a few challenges which informed the establishment of CHDP in order to have quality caused by the Shortage of infrastructure and healthcare workers.
He also identified deterioration in child and maternal mortality due to conflict and other crises inhibiting UNICEF and others from reaching the hardest-to-reach communities as another reason for community health service.
Oluseyi Olosunde stressed that the need to build resilient health systems to be better prepared for the next global health shock is another reason.
He then stressed that prioritising community-based primary health care, of which community health workers are key, is critical to address these challenges and work towards achieving universal health coverage (UHC).
The UNICEF Health Officer then urged Journalists to focus on stories that will champion the health issues of women and adolescent girls stressing that healthy women and children will promote a healthy community and by extension the larger society.
TheWitness
