By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
Bauchi State Accountability Mechanism on Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (BaSAM) have disseminated two scorecards that focuses on status of Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH) in Bauchi State from July – December 2021 and the State Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) from October 2021 – March 2022.
In a short remarks before the commencement of the dissemination which held on Tuesday at Hazibal Hotel Conference Hall Bauchi, the Co-chair of BaSAM Abu John Yusuf informed stakeholders that the purpose of the dissemination exercise was to present the findings made by the Coalition in collaboration with relevant State MDAs, using an agreed indicators earlier developed by State MDAs concerned and BaSAM.
Yusuf further disclosed that it is a tradition for BaSAM to develop such scorecards every six months with a view to addressing gaps observed, towards improved MNCH services delivery in Bauchi State.
The Co-chair stressed that, “not only does the coalition present it’s findings to stakeholders, but we also used the scorecards to carry out evidence based advocacy targeted at the executive and legislative arms of government. This is done with the aim of having their buy-ins towards improved MNCH services in the state.
During the dissemination meeting, key stakeholders from the concerned state MDAs, partners intervening in health and other invited guests all agreed that BaSAM had done a wonderful job by engaging in the development of the scorecards. The invited stakeholders further agreed that there is room for improvement in subsequent scorecards. They commended the coalition for their effort and also urged them to sustain the tempo.
Highlights of the occasion was the official adoption of the scorecards by the state ministry of health, subject to corrections of some minor errors observed.
It could be recalled that BaSAM is being supported by the Gates Foundation funded Activity titled “Evidence for Action (E4A) Mamaye Program ”. The overall objective of the program is anchored towards using evidence to advocate for improved health care outcomes in Bauchi, Niger and Lagos States. Members of the Coalition were drawn from relevant government MDAs, civil society organizations and the media. The government side, which is under evidence subcommittee of the coalition, is responsible for generating data to be used as evidence for advocacy, under the advocacy subcommittee, while the media, under the knowledge, management and communication subcommittee are responsible for giving visibility to the entire activities of the coalition which also serves as an avenue for consistent advocacies, using different channels of communication.
Our correspondent reports that the dissemination meeting attracted participants from relevant State MDAs, COSs, International partners and the media.