By Chris Chikelue
Anambra State Ministry of Health has begun a 3-Day World Health Organization (WHO) assisted workshop which was aimed at creating a strategic implementation plan for the strengthening of health promotion activities.
Declaring the workshop open to run from August 10 to 12 the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike represented by the Ministry’s Director for Public Health, Dr. Afam Anaeme said that the workshop was expected to produce a comprehensive and context-specific strategic framework which would guide health promotion and communication interventions in the state with a five years life span.
“This workshop therefore is designed to promote greater coordination, harmonisation and evidence-based programming across the state,” the commissioner said.
In his own analysis of the details of the workshop, a consultant with the World Health Organization’s Advancing Integrated Health Services for SRHR and Communicable Diseases Project said, “fragmented health promotion efforts among government programmes and development partners have resulted in inefficiencies, inconsistent messaging and limited impact on population health outcomes”.
According to the consultant, the objectives sought in the meeting were to develop a common understanding of the health promotion landscape of the state, adapt the National Health Promotion Framework to the state’s specific needs and joint development of a five-year operational roadmap for health promotion activities in the state.
The workshop was also strenghtened by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
Chris Chikelue is of the Ministry of Information and Value Reformation, Anambra State
