Plateau Govt Receives $1.5 Million For SOML Program

The Plateau Government says it has received 1.5 million dollars for its Save One Million Lives programme for Results (SOML) funded by the Federal Government and World Bank.

The State Programme Manager of the Save One Million Lives for Results, Mr Philimeon Dagwa‎, disclosed this on Monday in Jos at the opening of the Integrated Supportive Supervision training workshop it organised for 82 health workers in ‎the state.

Dagwa explained that the ‎grant was received through the state Ministry of Health for implementation of the programme.

According to him, SOML provides incentives based on achievement of results (health outcomes) and helps to drive institutional processes needed to achieve these results.

He disclosed that the programme seeks to catalyze change in the way health business is done by focusing on results and governance.

The programme manager disclosed that the ‎ programme was focused on six pillars; including improving Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH), improving routine immunisation coverage and achieving polio eradication.

Others are the elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV, scaling up access to essential medicines and commodities, malaria control and improving child nutrition.

He said that the programme represents a bold attempt to improve maternal and child health outcomes so that they are more in keeping with the country’s level of wealth.

He said it also intends for the health sector to contribute to the economic and social development of Nigeria instead of being a drag on its growth.

“This would bring about a re orientation of service delivery to results rather than just inputs,” he said.

He enjoined the health workers participating in the training to ensure that they imbibe the knowledge and skills as they would train others at their various health centres in the state.

The three-day training will end on Aug. 30.