Group Teams Up with ASPHDA to Boost Community Health Education
ASPHDA group photography
By Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
The ATM Network, a health advocacy group, is set to partner with the Anambra State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (ASPHDA) to strengthen community-oriented health education and mobilization strategies across the state.
The partnership aims to enhance the agency’s capacity to address HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria through the implementation of the Community-Led Monitoring (CLM) model.
During a state advocacy visit to the ASPHDA headquarters in Awka, Mrs. Ify Unachukwu, Advocacy Team Lead of the ATM Network, emphasized the need to build the capacity of primary healthcare centers by reinforcing community systems.
“We seek to engage health educators and mobilizers to drive awareness and encourage acceptance of HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria services.
“By strengthening our collaboration with ASPHDA, we can foster greater community ownership and participation in health service delivery,” she stated.
Contributing to the discussion, Mr. Onyekachi Ololo, Program Officer at the ATM Network, outlined several key strategies to align ASPHDA’s initiatives with the goals of Community System Strengthening (CSS) and CLM.
These include the development of joint health education campaigns targeting underperforming local government areas and hard-to-reach communities; institutionalizing community-led feedback mechanisms; and promoting regular training and retraining for community health educators.
Ololo also proposed the integration of ATM advocacy tools into the demand creation strategies of primary healthcare centers.
He further suggested supporting ASPHDA in documenting and disseminating best practices for engaging traditional rulers and faith leaders, and collaborating on the development of monitorable health education indicators tied to ATM’s thematic areas.
In response, Mrs. Uju Onwuegbusina, the State Health Educator and Mobilization Officer of ASPHDA, welcomed the proposed partnership.
She noted that ASPHDA places a high priority on community ownership and that the visit reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to collaborative engagement.
“We believe health education is a tool for empowerment, and with strategic partnerships like this, we can scale up impactful campaigns that drive change at the community level,” she said.
She also expressed ASPHDA’s readiness to work with the ATM Network in co-developing messages that resonate with diverse communities, particularly in addressing TB stigma, dispelling HIV myths, and promoting malaria prevention.
“I look forward to establishing a framework in which the ATM Network works hand-in-hand with our social mobilizers and educators across all 21 LGAs to generate local ownership of health initiatives,” she added.
