By Muhammad Ibrahim, Sokoto
She-Alert Care Foundation (SHE-ALERT), an NGO, has called for the creation of a budget line for Integrated Supportive Supervision (ISS) in Sokoto State’s 2025 appropriation.
Mrs Blessing Gidado, the Executive Director of SHE-ALERT, made the call at a media roundtable organised by the foundation in Sokoto.
Gidado said that the initiative, anchored by the Better Life Restoration Initiative (BERI), aimed at achieving the USAID-funded five-year Health System Strengthening Cluster project in the state.
She said the project, implemented by Palladium in collaboration with Nigeria Resource Partners (RPS), is titled “Improved Quality Healthcare Service Delivery through ISS.”
“This intervention facilitates quality improvement by ensuring adequate oversight as well as skills and knowledge transfer to healthcare service providers,” Gidado said.
She noted that domestic financial support for ISS in Sokoto was inadequate, leading to a high dependency on donor funding.
“Over the years, many health programmes have been heavily funded by donors supporting ISS activities on tuberculosis (TB) and HIV, among others.
“Although donor support is important, it is mostly unsustainable and has debilitating effects on ISS continuity,” she said.
According to her, supervision activities are conducted more in facilities that receive the basic healthcare provision fund and other interventions.
“This is leaving out the remaining health clinics and health posts, especially those located in hard-to-reach communities,” she observed.
She identified the non-inclusion of private sector partners in funding and supporting ISS activities as a significant factor robbing the state of valuable resources.
Gidado advocated for the establishment of a Technical Working Group to support ISS activities, saying: “The group’s nonexistence in the state is having a negative impact on the project activities.”
She observed that adequate supervision of all Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs) in the state would guarantee quality service delivery.
The five-year scale project, which commenced in October 2020, is being implemented in four states including: Sokoto, Bauchi, Kebbi and Ebonyi.
