COMMUNITY leaders and religious organizations have been called upon to invest in healthcare at the grassroots to influence and mobilize communities towards positive change.
The Delta State Programme Officer for Civil Society for Malaria Control, Immunization and Nutrition (ACOMIN), Juliet Obiajulu stated this in Asaba during a media interaction on ATM Network State meeting.
She said that through their leadership and guidance, they could help to ensure that communities were integrated into the healthcare response, fostering a sense of ownership and accountability.
Obiajulu said that the community -led monitoring initiative that was being implemented by ATM Networks has recorded tremendous achievements in 2024.
She highlighted such achievements in the state to include; the clearing of overgrown weeds at the Cable Point Healthcare Centre in Oshimili South after an advocacy by the CLMT.
She also said that the continued engagement with community stakeholders in building support led to the clearing of the overgrown weeds in June 26, 2024, adding that the Krudi CLMT paid a follow up advocacy to one of Ogbe -Otu community leaders, Mr. Uzor Amaechi.
Obiajulu urged government and other policy makers to prioritize and increase funding of the secondary and primary healthcare centres in their areas, stressing that there must be adequate financial support for the healthcare centres to enable them deliver quality healthcare services for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS , tuberculosis, malaria and other ailments in any community.
The ATM component of ACOMIN State Programme Officer said that Nigeria has the highest number of people living with malaria and the second world’s largest in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) abs AIDS as well as one of the thirty high Tuberculosis (TB) in the world.
Obiajulu, who clarified that co-infection could make each of the diseases more severe and potentially more infectious, noted that HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria were diseases with certain factors that predispose populations to disease.
