ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has organised training for directors, accountants, programme officers and immunisation officers of Primary Health Care (PHC) of local government councils in Bayelsa State.
The training was part of the measures to ensure proper utilisation of resources meant for PHCs in the state.
The two-day workshop which was held in Yenagoa, the state capital, was targeted at delivering the PHC Memorandum of Understanding signed between UNICEF, Gavi and the Bayelsa State Government.
Speaking on the significance of the training, Health Specialist, UNICEF Rivers Field Officer, Dr Eghe Abe, said the workshop was to help in imbibing financial discipline in professionals that run the PHCs.
He said the PHC being the nearest to the people, the programme was a sure way of getting it right and to improve outcomes for women and children.
He said the training was to build capacity of the LGA team such as the directors of the PHC, the accountants, some of the programme officers, local immunisation officers, the routine immunisations officers and the councils to understand and appreciate the financial systems that are needed to make the project work.
He said that the project if well implemented would do a lot to improve the lot of the children and women as well as improve the health indices in the state.
Abe said the indices in Bayelsa State was not very good, noting that the project if well implemented with the support of all stakeholders, the communities as well as LGAs, would succeed and that would mean a lot for the women and children in the state.
He stated: “The procedure we are talking about if properly implemented will strengthen the system, but if it is not properly implemented will also mean that there is a lot of work to be done in the system and it will come with improved funding.
“Our idea for this training is to let the state know what we want to do and to make them appreciate what is being done. The training will help in ensuring financial discipline. It is not totally different from what is expected from a state but to further buttress it and for them to know what is right and what should be done.”