463 out of 25,843 PHCs have minimum number of required Skilled Birth Attendants – NPHCDA DG
The Director General of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib has lamented the gross inadequacy of required Skilled Birth Attendants and unequal distribution of available ones in the primary health care facilities in Nigeria. He made this known during a media briefing on the official launch of Community-Based Health Research, Innovative Training and Services Program (CRISP) held recently in Abuja.
According to the DG, the health facility assessment carried out in 2022 revealed that “only 1.8% (463 out of 25,843) primary health care facilities in our country have the minimum number of required Skilled Birth Attendants (SBA) which is 4 per facility.” In order to address this major challenge, the agency launched an innovative programme called Community-based Health Research, Innovative-training and Services Program (CRISP) in Abuja.
Explaining the programme, Dr. Shuaib said “CRISP is a partnership between the Teaching Hospitals, Federal Medical Centres, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, State Primary Health Care Boards, Local Government Health Authorities and the communities to support primary health care development.”
It is an intervention that specifically focuses on increasing, retaining and improving the quality, adequacy, competency, and distribution of a committed multidisciplinary primary health care workforce that includes facility outreach and community-based health workers supported through effective management supervision and appropriate compensation.
In order to make it a success, the DG said Human Resources for Health (HRH), particularly Skilled Birth Attendants, such as Medical Doctors, Midwives, Nurses, and Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs) that have been trained on how to manage emergencies would be recruited and deployed to priority PHC facilities across the country. He therefore called on the media to support the government and the communities to create enabling information and environment for successful implementation of CRISP.
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