By Muhammad Amaan
The Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN)’s Community of Practice for immunization budget tracking, transparency and accountability have conducted an Iftar scorecard validation meeting with various critical stakeholders in attendance.
This was contained in a statement signed by Dr Adamu A Umar, the Borno State Focal Person for the AHBN’s Zero Dose Learning Hub (ZDLH).
The Meeting was chaired by the Ag.Executive Secretary of the Borno State Primary Health care development board Dr Mala Abdulwahab with other directors of the agency in attendance (DDCI,DFA,DHPRS) amongst other staff of the agency.
Partners such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), ADF, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and SOLINA among others. Also, state level Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the media were also in attendance.
The Coordinator of AHBN, Dr Aminu Magashi Garba in his remarks gave a background of the concept of the immunization scorecard and its relevance in advocating for more funding, prompt budget releases, tracking budget expenditure as well as the critical involvement of state level CSOs in RI activities in the state amongst others.
The Acting Executive Secretary of the Borno State Primary Health Care Development Board (BoSPHCDB) in his remarks applauds the AHBN in conceptualizing the CoP and the various advocacy stand points and relevance of having a document that will serve as a reference by the CoP in its advocacy efforts to policy makers and in tracking immunization budget financing in the state.
He equally called on all stakeholders to key in and take ownership of the document in carrying out advocacy efforts in the state.
The AHBN ZDLH Advocacy and accountability advisor Hon. Mohammed Usman who moderated the discussion session on the scorecard appreciated all stakeholders for their sustained interest in the project and the state government and PHC MoU partners for their sustained interest and efforts at improving immunization financing over the years.
He also called for more drive towards improving the allocation of resources to the health care sector especially immunization services to ensure that no child or community of left behind.
He called on stakeholders to give feedback on the draft scorecard presented ahead of the public presentation of the document in the coming weeks.
Various contributions were entertained from stakeholders present who unanimously applauded the process that brought about the emergence of a valid document that will go a long way in targeted advocacy towards enhancing immunization coverage in the state.
The breaking of fast “Iftar” was witnessed during the course of the meeting and stakeholders prayed for better outcomes ahead that will reduce the burden of zero dose communities in Borno State.
