YSCHMA, UNICEF Enrol 7000 Children, Women In Health Insurance Scheme

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the Yobe State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (YSCHMA) have partnered and enrolled approximately 7,000 women and children into the contributory healthcare scheme to access free healthcare services in the Gulani and Geidam local government areas.

The enrollees were captured by the YSCHMA in collaboration with UNICEF, with the aim of giving them access to quality healthcare services at the designated health facilities.

The disclosure was made yesterday, by the Commissioner of Health and Human Services, Dr. Muhammad Lawan Gana, at the opening of a one-day stakeholders engagement meeting.

The meeting was on UNICEF’s support to expand population coverage in two zero-dose local government areas of Yobe state held in Damaturu.

According to him, “Zero-dose children are children aged between 12 and 23 months, who have not received their first dose of diphtheria, tetanus, BCG, polio, meningococcal and pertussis-containing vaccine (DPT-1).”

Gana, also said through the partnership with UNICEF, 3,500 children from each of the two local government areas would be covered with a pre-payment plan to access Primary and Secondary healthcare services in all YSCHMA accredited and engaged health facilities across the selected local government areas.

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“The children will be enrolled to receive a full complement of primary healthcare services. When the need for referral arises, it will be made and it is also a free service,” he said.

The Commissioner further noted that the programme would complement the State Government’s Social Equity Programme, which had since enrolled over 32,000 vulnerable persons across the state.

He explained under the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), which was being supported by the federal government, over 45,000 vulnerable persons had been enrolled.

“This is aside from another set of the 2,500 vulnerable persons supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF),” the Commissioner added.

The Commissioner therefore, commended the State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, UNICEF and other development partners in the state for their various support in enhancing effective and efficient healthcare service delivery in the state.

In her remarks, the UNICEF representative at the meeting, Hajiya Fatima Muhammad, who is the State Social Behavioral Change Consultant, pledged more support to the Yobe state health sector to enable it to achieve the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) objectives.

Dr. Babagana Tijjani, the YSCHMA Executive Secretary, explained that the objective behind the partnership between UNICEF and the Agency was to enrol the vulnerable population in Geidam and Gulani local government areas of the state into the YSCHMA contributory health scheme.