Health
Kwara, SFH Inaugurate Health Flip-chart To Boost Service Delivery
By Fatima Mohammed-Lawal
The Kwara State Government, in collaboration with the Society for Family Health (SFH), on Thursday in Ilorin inaugurated an integrated health facility flip-chart.
The initiative is aimed at strengthening health service uptake across the state and improving community health education outcomes.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the integrated health flip-chart is a visual teaching tool used by health workers, community volunteers, and NGOs.
The tool is designed to deliver health messages during outreaches, clinic sessions, and house-to-house visits.
Kwara Commissioner for Health, Dr Amina El-Imam, said the programme was the dissemination and official inauguration of the integrated health facility flip-chart designed to improve health communication and behavioural change across communities in the state.
El-Imam, represented by the Director of Public Health, Dr Oluwatosin Fakayode, said the tool contained the “ingredients to cause behavioural change that could re-shapen the system in the state” and improve health outcomes.
She said State Mobilisation Officers (SMOs) across all local government areas would continue to use the flip-chart for effective and standardised healthcare promotion activities at community and facility levels.
According to her, the flip-chart is expected to deliver consistent, accurate, and engaging health messages during facility sessions, community outreaches, and household visits across the state.
“Health promotion is the foundation of anything we do in public health intervention. Without a strong health promotion activity, we are going nowhere.
“This is because it is what will change the behaviour of people towards healthcare,” she said.
El-Imam added that the tool would improve uptake of maternal and child health services, antenatal care, safe delivery, immunisation, breastfeeding, malaria prevention, diarrhoea management, hygiene, and sanitation practices.
She expressed optimism that the initiative would significantly strengthen preventive healthcare delivery and improve health-seeking behaviour among residents in both rural and urban communities.
Also speaking, the Reproductive Health Coordinator at the Kwara Ministry of Health, Dr Kafayat Kofo, said the flip-chart covered reproductive, maternal, newborn, adolescent health services, and non-communicable diseases.
She said it was designed as a social and behavioural change communication tool to help health workers effectively deliver key health messages to individuals and communities across the state.
“It is a dissemination to unveil the social and behavioural change document, which is flip-chart that will be used to convey messages to people in the community,” she said.
In his remarks, Mr Adedayo Adedotun, the Management Information Officer of SFH, commended the state government for developing and adopting the essential health communication tool.
He said the initiative would strengthen service delivery and standardise counselling across health facilities and communities, improving consistency in health education and outreach programmes statewide.
“We see this as an important step in strengthening service delivery and standardising counselling across facilities and communities in the state.
“SFH strongly believes that this flip-chart will serve as a tool for SMOs to deliver consistent health education and improve quality of service across key programme areas in the state,” he said.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Dorcas Jonah/Abiemwense Moru
