617 hard-to-reach communities in kaduna benefit from CHIPS – Official

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

The Kaduna State Government has said it will implement Community Health Influencers, Promoters and Services (CHIPS) programme in 617 hard-to-reach communities that are five or more kilometers away from health facilities.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr Amina Baloni, made the disclosure yesterday in Zari at the opening of a two-week Training of Trainers (TOT) for the CHIPS programme, funded by UNICEF, Kaduna Field Office.
Baloni was represented at the event by Dr Neyu Iliyasu, Director, Family and Community Health Services, Kaduna State Primary Health Care Development Board.
She explained that CHIPS was a national programme targeted at creating demand for health services, and a strategy geared towards achieving Universal Health Coverage.
“The CHIPS programme is a `community-based initiative’ designed to consolidate and harmonise all community level healthcare interventions and services.
“I hope that at the end of the training, we will have a strong team that will build the capacity of our community volunteers to support in widening coverage of essential health services,” she said.
On his part, the Director, Family and Community Health Services, explained that the decision to focus on hard-to-reach areas was informed by the state’s 2020 Integrated Primary Health Care (PHC) Reach Every Ward Micro Plan.
He said that based on the plan, over 65 per cent of the state’s population live within two kilometre radius from a PHC facility and were being reached through fixed sessions in PCHs.