Politics
JDPC, IBP train Oyo champions to boost maternal health
By Isaac Olufemi Ojo
As part of efforts to strengthen primary healthcare delivery, close administrative loopholes, and scale up maternal health in Oyo State, the Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) has equipped over 50 maternal health champions with structured reporting tools and feedback frameworks in Ibadan.
The initiative, under the Strengthening Public Accountability for Results and Knowledge (SPARK 2.3) project and supported by the International Budget Partnership (IBP), focuses on maternal and primary healthcare services across select local government areas of Oyo State.
The Programme Manager for the IBP Spark Project at JDPC, Jide Bamigoshe, while speaking at the training, said the intervention is designed to inject system structure and uniformity into how community champions track facility performance, rather than serving as a witch-hunt against healthcare workers.
Bamigoshe noted that while the state government has recorded commendable successes, including the employment of personnel, drug availability through the drug revolving fund, and the institutionalisation of mandatory receipting for all transactions, various systemic gaps and out-of-pocket expenses persist at some primary healthcare centres.
He highlighted that they have been able to uncover certain challenges peculiar to selected PHCs through the reports filed in recent times but also questioned why such continues to happen.
“Some reports show 200 women coming for antenatal care, but delivery figures drop to five or, in some cases, none. That raises questions,” he noted.
The Programme Manager decried out-of-pocket extortion at some primary healthcare centres, citing situations where standard delivery fees officially fixed between N5,000 and N7,000 at PHC’s are inflated to N20,000 and N50,000.
“No system is perfect, but we continue to build on it until we get there. Out-of-pocket expenses are still there, but the government is also making efforts to curb them,” he said.
The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for JDPC Ibadan, Deborah Olowoyo, while speaking at the programme, explained that the current phase of the Spark project strategically prioritises female members of Ward Development Committees (WDCs) to steer maternal health advocacy across the communities they reside in.
She maintained that the current project is working with over 50 champions spread across six key local government areas, adding that champions are being trained on data collection metrics, such as antenatal care (ANC) attendance and delivery counts, family planning, and malaria, as well as deploying feedback tools to capture direct experiences from service receivers.
Olowoyo, however, commended the commitment of the champions, noting that female inclusion in WDCs has seen a positive shift from past years where males dominated key positions.
While speaking with journalists during the programme, Mrs Deborah Adebayo, a participant representing WakaJaye Ward 7 Health Centre, lauded the IBP and JDPC for the opportunity, and expressed readiness to put in her best for the benefit of expectant mothers and others in the society.
“I was a mother, and I love seeing my people go to give birth and come back alive with their babies. I am very happy to accept this offer to be a maternal champion,” she said.
Another participant, Akaju Omowunmi from Apatere community in Lagelu LGA, commended the initiators of the programme, highlighting its impact in transforming Apatere community PHC from its moribund state to an actively functioning facility.
