Oyo Govt Seeks Community Participation in Health Intervention Programmes

Oyo State government has sought more participation of members of various communities in the intervention programmes of the Primary Health Care Board.

The Executive Secretary of the Board, Dr. Muideen Olatunji, in a chat with journalists on the plans and activities of the Board, expressed their readiness to allow more participation of communities in the intervention programs at the grassroots.

He explained that the majority of activities done by the agency are driven by community participation and engagement; hence, incorporating community members becomes inevitable.

Olatunji, who described primary health care as the bedrock of health service delivery across the globe, said concerted efforts have been made to improve on structure at the primary health care facilities for optimal performance.

On plans of the board, Olatunji hinted that the Annual Operational Plan
for 2024 was developed recently at the local levels, adding that the documents were developed based on the peculiarities of each local government.

The executive secretary noted that the document would serve as practice direction and drive the board in 2024, stressing that the target of the board in the coming year is 85 percent coverage of programmes and activities present in the annual operational plan.

He said:” One of the functions of the board is community participation and community engagement, we need to co-opt more communities into what we do so that they can participate in our activities for our people to live productive lives”.

“ Our officers are to think outside the box so that they can actively impact positively in their facilities

He added :” the Board had a workshop recently where the 2024 Annual Operational Plan was developed, this is the first of its kind, the first ever developed in the state. I can even tell you, in the country, most people do not do that, they rely solely on the state, but we said we want to tease it down to the grassroots.

“ Each local government developed their plan based on their peculiarities, we made it a bottom – top approach”
“ Things can always get better at our primary health care centers, the government has renovated the majority of PHCs upgraded, we will improve on the system and structure for qualitative service delivery at the PHCs.

“We are also planning health insurance templates at local level, improve on coverage of routine immunization, the government is also considering the integration of mental health at LGAs so that we can start domesticating mental health and make it community intervention.

“ Everybody must access health care, people should not be denied qualitative health care because they are poor.

“ The 2024 Annual Operational Plan is now our work tool for health care providers.It is a document we can use to hit the ground running, it will be our Bible and Quran that will guide us in the program we do, it is now our compass, our target is 85% coverage of the plan.