From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
The Kaduna State Contributory Health Management Authority, (KADCHMA) has advocated for a law in Kaduna state that will make it mandatory for all intending couples to present Health Insurance Certificate before the solemnization of marriages in the State.
The Director General of KADCHMA during a Town Hall meeting with Stakeholders held in Kaduna yesterday.
Alhaji Hassan, who said he is an advocate of law in the State stressed that there is a need for Kaduna State House of Assembly to consider a law that will ensure that intending couples are registered with the authority before their marriage.
He added that the registration is part of their marriage preparation, saying, almost every week marriages is conducted in the State and it is sad to note that most of the marriages suffered health challenges when the couples are settled down.
The DG opined that such challenges would have been averted if the couples were registered with the Health Insurance Agency. He added that people who donated gifts to couples can also donate Certificate of registration to them as a surprise.
According to him, the Health Insurance is a way to reduce out of pocket spending on health care, noting that there are currently over 500,000 contributors on the Scheme from both the formal and informal sector, including the most vulnerable.
Knowledge of the scheme has gone up and its utilization due to sensitization has also increased with high impact on maternal and child mortality in the state. We are beginning to raise the numbers.
In her remark State Program Manager of Saving Mothers, Giving Life 2.0: Paulina Akanet said the second phase of the project initiated by Pathfinder with the aim of improving access to material and newborn collaboration and partnership between the Kaduna State Ministry of Health and the private health sector.
Akanet added that the SMGL 2.0 project utilizes the three delays model in identifying barriers to scale-up health care for women of reproductive age and newborns, as well as, providing solutions for them. The model postulates that materials and perinatal deaths occur due to one or some of three delay-delay in seeking care, delay in reaching care, and delay in receiving care.
“The program is building capacity of health workers through training and on-the-job mentoring. Over 10 heath care providers (103 Females, 50 Males) comprising doctors, nurses, midwives, (CHEWS), and medical records officers have been trained in the service provision areas ranging from Essential Newborn Care Course (ENCC), postpartum family planning (PPFP), monitoring and evaluation and continuous quality improvement.
