A Dissemination Workshop for Subnational Fiscal Space Assessment (FSA) report of the health sector in Kaduna State has been held.
It was jointly organised by the Kaduna State Health Care Board in collaboration with Clinton Health Access Initiatives (CHAI)
The workshop which drew participants from CSOs and other stakeholders was aimed at identifying opportunities for increased domestic finance for health intervention, most especially for a more sustainable procurement of family planing commodities and last mile distribution system.
At the occasion, Director ,Repproductive Health, State Primary Health Care Board, Hajiya Nafisa Musa Isa listed a number of bottlenecks militating against sustainable funding of the Family Planning Programme in the State.
These include insufficient public fund allocation and absence of cash backing even if Release approved, visibility of private sector participation, lack of adequate data/information, local donors and philanthropists.
An official of the Development Governance International Consult, Bolade Jimoh who carried out the Fiscal Space analysis in the State, advised the Government not to loose all the efforts so far made in family health.
She expressed dismay over the non- compliance with the 2015 Abuja
Declaration which recommended for every state to allocate 15% of its annual budget to the health sector.
Kaduna, she noted, allocated less than 1% of its budget to Planning, while 12% of the funding on health came from donor agencies.
Participants who rose from the workshop with recommendations on ways towards improved resources through external financing, harnessing private sector potential among others, also want the media to advocate for Family Planning by writing compelling stories.
They stressed the need for policy makers to support funding of Family Planning through increased budgetary allocation, while traditional and religious leaders speak publicly about Family Planning.
The participants also advised the State Government to be more strategic in the posting of trained health providers from one health facility to another.
