FCT ONBOARDS COHORT 2 OF NATIONAL HEALTH FELLOWS
By: Adewoye Vivian
The FCTA Health Services and Environment Secretariat (HSES) has launched the second cohort of National Health Fellows, joining other states in Nigeria.
This initiative, led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, aims to boost primary healthcare nationwide. The 774 young professionals will support health reforms and improve healthcare delivery in their local areas
They’ll work with local teams to promote healthcare services by working closely with the PHCs, The program is part of the Renewed Hope Agenda to enhance grassroots healthcare
The onboarding or inauguration ceremony for Cohort 2 National Health Fellows took place at the FCT Public Health Emergency Operations Center EOC, alongside the graduation of Cohort 1 Fellows.
Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, said the scheme targets skilled youths to drive health transformation, focusing on data management, governance, and community health.
Pate charged the new fellows to improve weak systems, enhance data quality, and drive community health initiatives, building on their predecessors’ success to ensure sustainability through diligence and innovation.
Prof. Pate, praised the NHF Scheme for tapping into Nigeria’s talented youth, saying the merit-based selection process bridges gaps in favoritism and unequal opportunities. He urged Cohort 2 Fellows to make viable contributions and seize the opportunity to succeed.
Dr. Adedolapo Fasawe noted that the NHF concept models “task shifting” to bridge gaps between PHCs and citizens, and between citizens and government. Health Fellows are trained to make healthcare more accessible, affordable, and of quality, addressing human resource shortages at PHCs. The initiative has support from all 36 states and FCT, aiming to make healthcare easier and within reach for Nigerians .
According to Dr. Fasawe, “due to inadequate human resource to tackle daily challenges at PHCs, Health Fellows have been trained, coached, mentored and will continuously receive training at each PHC they are allocated to make healthcare accessible, more affordable, and of the right quality to Nigerians”.
She added that, “this initiative of President Bola Tinubu is strongly backed and supported by the 36 states of the Federation and FCT with commitment to make healthcare easy and within reach to all Nigerians”.
Likewise, the Executive Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Dr. Muyi Aina during an interview at the ceremony noted that ” the journey of Cohort 1 NHF who have now been graduated has been amazing through the impact these young Fellows have made within a year from mobilizing resources within their communities to help PHCs function better, doing advocacy and investment to get Ambulance services working, deployment of technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve access to services for communities reveals potentials and impact of this laudable intervention”.
Earlier, the Technical Assistant to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare for Sector Wide Approach (SWAP) Dr. Ashiru Abubakar who spoke on impacts of the NHF Scheme so far, highlighted some achievements recorded from the programme with “Fellows taking up initiatives to strengthen Maternal & Newborn health where over 200 Fellows distinguished themselves in different value chain of Maternal & Newborn health interventions”.
Dr. Abubakar continued that, ” some Fellows advocated for safer pregnancies through quality ante-natal care and still birth attendant by conducting structured audits of ante-natal care services from record reviewed interviews and observations to identify service gaps and implement improvements based on problem solving capacity building training they have acquired”.
Furthermore, he mentioned that Fellows have also “championed regulation of Traditional Birth Attendance (TBA) by setting up community governance architecture to regulate Traditional Birth practices and other unsafe practices which has yielded positive results in making sure that all TBAs and unregistered patent stores sign an undertaken not to continue such services but rather refer pregnant women to proper facilities for deliveries” he said.
Also, the FCT SWAP Desk Officer Dr. Teresa Nwachukwu appreciated the contributions and efforts of the graduated Cohort 1 Fellows in ” working across programmes, bridging gaps and supporting coordinated implementation which demonstrates that meaningful change happens when we move beyond silos and embrace a sector-wide approach”.
She charged the Onboarded Cohort 2 Fellows to be ready to contribute to the dynamic, purpose-driven space through critical thinking, stakeholder engagement, and the provision of solutions that will strengthen health outcomes for all Nigerians, owing to the fact that the SWAP framework thrives on collaboration, data-driven decision-making, and accountability.
