Group to partner ASPHDA in strengthening community-oriented health education
Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
The ATM Network, a health advocacy group, will partner Anambra State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (ASPHDA) in strengthening community-oriented health education and mobilization strategies in the state.
The partnership, as learnt, aims to enhance the agency’s capacity to respond to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria using the Community-Led Monitoring (CLM) model.
During a state advocacy visit to the ASPHDA headquarters in Awka, Mrs. Ify Unachukwu, the ATM Network’s advocacy team lead, emphasized the importance of building the capacity of primary healthcare centers through community system strengthening.
“We seek to engage health educators and mobilizers to drive awareness and acceptance of HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria services.
“By strengthening our collaboration with ASPHDA, we can enhance community ownership and participation in health service delivery,” she said.
Contributing, Program Officer of the ATM Network, Mr. Onyekachi Ololo, outlined several key strategies to align ASPHDA’s work with the Community System Strengthening (CSS) and CLM objectives including developing joint health education campaigns targeting underperforming local government areas and hard-to-reach communities, institutionalizing community-led feedback mechanisms, and promoting regular training and retraining of community health educators.
Ololo further proposed integrating ATM advocacy tools into PHC demand creation strategies, supporting ASPHDA in documenting and sharing best practices for engaging traditional rulers and faith leaders, and collaborating on the development of monitorable health education indicators linked to ATM thematic areas.
Responding, the State Health Educator and Mobilization Officer of ASPHDA, Mrs Uju Onwuegbusina, welcomed the partnership, noting that ASPHDA prioritizes community ownership and that the visit reinforces their collaborative approach.
“We believe health education is a tool for empowerment, and with strategic partnerships like this, we can scale up impactful campaigns that drive change at the community level.”
She expressed her agency’s willingness to partner with the ATM Network to co-develop messages that resonate with diverse communities, especially on TB stigma, HIV myths, and malaria prevention.
“I look forward to a framework where the ATM Network works hand-in-hand with our social mobilizers and educators across the 21 LGAs to generate local ownership of health initiatives,” she added.
www.odogwublog.com reports that th partnership is expected to yield several outcomes, including the co-creation of a health education strategy supporting CLM roll-out in selected primary healthcare centers, integration of the ATM Network into upcoming state-level PHC mobilization activities, and joint training and support supervision of LGA mobilization officers and community volunteers.
