By Kemo Cham in Abuja
For countries to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC), hard-to-reach communities must be empowered, a pilot project designed to empower women in poor rural communities in Sierra Leone has shown.
The project implemented by the Christian Health Association of Sierra Leone (CHASL) was presented on Wednesday, on day-two of the ongoing 11th Biannual Conference of the African Christian Health Association Platform (ACHAP) in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
Martha B. Kanu, Programmes Manager at CHASL, said focus has to be placed on efforts to create access to communities, and their medical facilities and health workers empowered to provide the needed services to the people.
“If we actually want to attain Universal Health Coverage, in our country there are facilities, there are communities, which are hard to reach…creating access to them, and empowering the medical facilities, and even the health workers, will help,” she said in her part of a joint presentation.
The session was one of two in which the CHASL team, which is headed by its Executive Director, Florence Bull, made presentations, demonstrating innovative interventions designed to promote access to healthcare commodities.
The report illustrates how community based health financing scheme helped change the financial and social status of a group of about 10 women within six months and enabling them to pay for their healthcare needs.
The project was implemented in four communities across four districts in the country, including Rotifunk in Port Loko.
The aim was to reduce out-of-pocket expenditure on the communities, a key element of the UHC which envisions that every person access healthcare when or where they need it, without financial hardship.
The women were capacitated on skills in handling finances and creating businesses, before been handed seed loans.
“You can give them voucher [schemes], but if they don’t have the knowledge on how to manage small businesses, it becomes a white elephant,” Mrs Bull said as part of the presentation at the session.
Funding for the loan scheme was provided by Bread for the World Germany, a Christian charity which focuses on empowering marginalized communities.
CHASL officials said the communities targeted had a lot of maternal deaths, alongside low access of health facilities, which raised the alarm.
‘’They were afraid to go to hospital facilities for lack of money,” Kanu told ManoReporters in an interview after the session.
“Because of the community based health financing project, these women now have voice in their communities. Some were left behind because of poverty. Some were behind because they lacked empowerment. They are now part of the decision making in their various communities,” she added
The ACHAP biannual conference is taking place at the Riez Continental Hotel in Abuja, and it brings together delegates from all ACHAP member countries across the continent, as well as partner organizations from across the world. It is being held on the theme: ‘The Journey to achieving Universal Health Coverage in Africa; Experiences and Lessons from faith communities.’
Earlier on Wednesday, the conference was officially launched by a representative of the Minister of Health of Nigeria, who pledged the Federal Government’s continued collaboration with Faith Based Organizations to enhance healthcare service delivery in the country.
