MTN FOUNDATION PARTNERS WITH PSHAN TO REMODEL 52 PHCs NATIONWIDE

Igbide PHC, Isoko South LGA, Delta
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Ifite Ogwari
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Isolo Opin, Ekiti LGA, Kwara.

Ilara PHC, Imeko Afon LGA, Ogun state.

Ilara PHC Osun State.

Ammassoma PHC, Southern Ijaw, Bayelsa State.

Lalaipido PHC, Shongom LGA, Gombe State.

Ifite Ogwari PHC, Ayamelum LGA, Anambra State.

MCH Geregu Health Facility Ajaokuta LGA Kogi State.

Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PSHAN) and MTN Foundation, through its What Can We Do Together initiative and the Clean-Up project have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to revitalise 52 primary healthcare centres (PHCs), as a significant step towards enhancing healthcare infrastructure and services in Nigeria.

The signing ceremony was to formalise the partnership between MTN Foundation and PSHAN towards strengthening Nigeria’s healthcare value chain at the grassroots level. Similarly, the partnership plans to spend N2.2 billion on community development to upgrade PHCs under the “What Can We Do Together” (WCWDT) initiative.

Briefing journalists at the official signing of the agreement, the Executive Director, of MTN Foundation, Mrs Odunayo Sanya who noted that Nigeria has more than 30,000 PHCs, said though they are starting with only 52 PHCs the MTN Foundation has done 180 interventions in PHCs nationwide.

Mrs Sanya said: “This initiative commenced in 2015, it was born out of the fact that we needed to drive inclusion in the way that we do our projects and interventions. And so, What Can We Do Together is a feedback initiative where we open a course for Nigerians to nominate communities that they believe deserve to get the intervention. This is our fifth outing and what makes this unique is the partnership. We believe that it is important to enable the health sector, and the value chain, and the best place to do that would be at the grassroots.

“So last year we opened a call for applications for remodelling of 40 primary health care centres and beyond the money, it was so much about how do we drive sustainability in what we do. And so that is where the partnership with PHSAN comes in.”

The Nigerian healthcare industry is facing challenges associated with outbound medical tourism, deteriorating medical infrastructure, low government budget allocation, poor compensation, and subsequent emigration of skilled healthcare workers.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Managing Director/CEO of PSHAN, Dr Tinuola Akinbolagbe, said she was glad that the signing ceremony came to fruition as a lot of work has gone into making it a reality.

“In implementing this nationwide programme, PSHAN and MTN Foundation play pivotal roles, showcasing a collaborative approach to healthcare improvement in Nigeria. MTN Foundation’s commitment to 52 selected PHCs across Nigeria underscores their commitment to enhancing
healthcare infrastructure and services across all geopolitical zones.

Thanking the Foundation for the response, she disclosed the project has kicked off in six states including, Anambra, Bayelsa, Delta, Jigawa, Kogi, and River State. “MTN has set the pace and has distinguished themselves in the organised private sector by making this commitment tohealthcare revitalisation in Nigeria.

Commenting on the impact of the project so far, she explained that the purpose of the entire exercise was to rebuild the trust of Nigerians in the primary health care system, added that under the ADHFP, a total of 180 cases have been handled and commitments have been gotten from people.

“Commitments are people that have come forward and said, we’re going to manage or we’re going to run these PhDs. We’ve had a total of 180 PHCs and that is over a quarter of our target.

We’ve done an audit in 92 PHCs and for the year 2024 we are planning to roll out 17 PHCs this is separate from those under the MTN foundation. So for the entire year, we plan to have at least 60 PHCs rolling out by the end of this year. She said there have been 180 per cent improvements in both maternal care and infant care in immunisation rates in those centres.

“We’ve had outreach of immunisations using those centres as the anchor points and going into the community we’ve seen doubling, tripling and quadrupling of attendance figures at those PHCs and registrations for antenatal care.”

“If the women do not have trust in the system they will not come here and register for antenatal care so those are some of the indicators that we’ve seen in the two PHCs that we have
operationalised.”

Also speaking, PSHAN Director, Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede congratulated MTN Foundation for the bold steps they have taken in corporate social investment noting that collaboration and partnership are the DNA of PHSAN.

He said: “PHSAN was not the brainchild of Nigerians. It’s the brainchild of Bill Gates and it was during a session in Abuja where luminaries like Aliko Dangote, Jim Ovia, and myself, alongside esteemed government officials, were challenged to forge robust partnerships within the Nigerian private sector. Working alone, you will do things, but working together, you will do truly historic things.”

“And so when we do things as PHSAN, we recognise the proverbial analogy to a broom that we all grew up with. When you have a broomstick, you can break it, but when you take the broom as a whole and you try to break it, you find that it’s almost impossible.”

Recalling the words of late Professor Olukoye Ramsom Kati, that primary health care is the answer to Nigeria’s health challenges, he said: “If we fix things at the PHC level, the point closest to the problem, we don’t have this wave of what you can call overwhelming force on our finances, overwhelming force on our health workers, overwhelming force on our health capacity, where we get to the secondary and the tertiary levels of health.”

On his part, the Chairman, of MTN Foundation, Prince Julius Adewusi Adeluyi, who noted that the foundation is 20 years old this year, explained that the partnership with PHSAN was to ensure they have credible people that would ensure the sustainability of the project.

“Over 20 years, they spent more than N28 billion on social investments. We’ve been facing sustainability issues. That’s why I say this is a defining moment. Here is PHSAN, with all its efficiency, and here is MTN, looking for that efficiency. And they’ve come together. I want to say that the Foundation is happy for two reasons. One is that the constitution of the body itself is made up of perhaps the best people who can drive it.

“The MTN Foundation is a pacesetter. If you look at the Nigerian space, there are hundreds of thousands of foundations. But the Foundation has been particularly formalized. It’s autonomous of its major company, MTN.

In his remarks, the executive director of, the National Primary Healthy Development Agency, NPHCDA, Dr Muyi Aina who was represented by the Lagos State Coordinator, Dr. Olusegun Emiju, described the signing of the MOU as a milestone event, noted that across the world, the private sector is integral to a nation’s development, driving innovation and economic growth.

He added that without health, which is the foundation of human capital development and national development, private sector contributions would remain sub-optimal.

“It is therefore apt that the organized Private Sector working through PSHAN is keen on investing in primary health care, the bedrock of our national health policy. It is our earnest hope that today is just a drop of what would become a deluge of MoA for PHC revitalization.”

He announced that within the renewed programme, the NPHCDA, led by the Executive Director and CEO Dr. Muyi Aina would be focused on PHC Revitalisation as an integral part of one of the Agency’s three (3) strategic pillars that would further drive PHC reforms.

Under this strategic Pillar which seeks to ensure “Efficient, Equitable, Quality, and Trusted Primary Health Care services”, the NPHCDA is committed to making a total of 17,600 PHC facilities functional over 4 years, by leveraging the basic health care provision funds (BHCPF), partners’ funding and importantly the organized private sector working closely through critical coordinating platforms such as PSHAN.

PSHAN leads private sector players in the economy in mobilizing resources and capabilities to provide accessible, affordable, and first-rate healthcare solutions to Nigerians. Recognising that the government cannot do it alone, PSHAN adopts a coordinated, nationwide multi-stakeholder approach to create transformative health outcomes.

The partnership aims to upgrade primary healthcare centres across Nigeria, with the MTN Foundation planning to renovate 52 PHCs by June 2024. While the MTN Foundation will commit to upgrading and equipping the facilities, PSHAN will ensure the projects’ sustainability and that they deliver a lasting impact on the communities.

END

PSHAN @ MTN Foundation Partners’ Meeting