The Kwara State Government has for the second time, emerged as the best performing state in North Central for the 2023/2024 Primary Health Care Leadership Challenge.
Kwara had in 2023 won the same award, in what underscored the efforts of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and his team to strengthen basic healthcare delivery to the people in the state.
The award comes with $500,000 reward to be spent on health facilities in line with the UNICEF/Nigeria Governors’ Forum specifications.
A statement signed by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye, said that the Leadership Challenge is a peer review exercise to nudge subnational governments to do more in improving healthcare delivery and better outcomes for the people.
Kwara State was represented at the award by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Amina Ahmed el-Imam and executive secretary of the Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Nusirat Elelu.
Held at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Abuja, the event was attended by Vice president Kashim Shetimma (represented); state governors led by the NGF chairman, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammed Ali Pate and other top government officials.
Using a rigorous, independently developed performance monitoring framework endorsed by all states, the Challenge assesses performance across key pillars such as governance, financing, quality service delivery, use of evidence, sustainability, and outcomes.
LEADERSHIP reports that Kwara State has consistently invested in the basic health care sector, saying it will continue to bridge infrastructural and human resource gaps and upscale services for the good of the people.
The state recently approved another round of infrastructural upgrades for many PHCs while also hiring hundreds of new health workers to bridge personnel shortage.
