USAID-IHP Wants Expedited Action on Universal Health Coverage in Bauchi

Segun Awofadeji

A United States Agency for International Development(USAID) funded Integrated Health Program (IHP) has emphasised the need for a multi-sectoral partnership as well as a sustained and strategic advocacy by the media that would expedite action on the delivery of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Bauchi state.

In a keynote remarks at the opening of a two-day Media Engagement workshop on Health Insurance Program, organised by USAID-IHP in collaboration with Bauchi State Health Contributory Management Agency (BASHCMA), which held in Bauchi, the State Director IHP, Dr. Alhassan Siaka stressed that a lot needed to be done to improve health coverage in the state.

According to him, there are challenges in terms of access to healthcare services by majority of the people, stating that out of the population of 5.3 million in the state, only 50,000 were covered.

The IHP State Director opined that it does not matter how much the state government invest in primary healthcare centers in terms of human resources, commodities and infrastructures, if there were no citizens to offer health services.

“We realise that in a state like Bauchi where we have 5.3 million out of the estimated eight million population who are classified as extremely poor, it is going to be extremely difficult for this segment of the population to continually pay for healthcare services out of their pocket.

“We thought we should bring the attention of the media to this aspect of challenges to accessing primary health care, that a lot needs to be done to improve health insurance coverage for the people of Bauchi State.

“There are three elements of health insurance which include formal health insurance, informal health insurance and the Vulnerable people who do not have resources to pay for their health insurance,” he said

He said something needed to be done drastically to ensure that the vulnerable population access health care services, adding that to surmount the challenge requires the state government taking the responsibility very seriously and the federal government doubling its efforts in that regard.

In his presentation on the benefits of Health Insurance and the Role of the Media in Bauchi State, the State IHP Health Financing Advisor, Khalid Kasimu said in Bauchi, there had been huge investment in the health sector, noting however that only few people have access to quality health care services.

He said that the role of the media as gate keepers was to influence social behaviour change communication, adding that the media was largely responsible for shaping societal discourse.