THE Kwara State Government and PharmAccess Foundation have resolved to consolidate and improve over 10 years partnership to deliver quality healthcare services to Kwara citizens.

They decided to strengthen the over a decade partnership during a courtesy visit of PharmAccess Group Management Team led by its Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Dr Nicole Spieker, to the Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazak, including other major healthcare stakeholders in the State, and also the Emir of Shonga, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Haliru Yahaya.

According to PharmAccess Team, the essence of the visit is to solidify the working relationship and partnership over the years in order to improve Kwara people’s access to affordable and quality healthcare services.

Interestingly, Kwara State has seen increase in the number of Kwara people having access to quality healthcare services as a result of the partnership, which has boost trust in the sector.

Meanwhile, stakeholders reiterated commitment to prioritize Kwara State healthcare sector by working hard to deliver accessible, affordable, and quality healthcare services to all residents in the State.

While receiving the PharmAccess team, Governor AbdulRazak, expressed appreciation over PharmAccess Foundation’s impact and excellent work in Kwara.

According to him, despite scarce resources, he would ensure that part of the one per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) is channeled to premium subsidy of the indigent population under the Kwara State Health Insurance Scheme.

The Governor also assured to ensure PharmAccess Foundation continues to have a favorable environment in the State following the impact the organization has made in the State’s health sector, which more people of the State are currently enjoying affordable and quality healthcare services, including its continued support to the health agencies and the Ministry of Health in the State.

Earlier, the CEO, PharmAccess Group, Nicole Spieker, thanked the Governor for his outstanding commitment to the health sector.

Spieker also acknowledged the great leadership of the Governor, which she said has been key to the achievements of Kwara- PharmAccess partnership.

Some of the achievements include the appointment of a Quality team at the Ministry of Health and the Kwara Health Insurance Agency; and quality improvement plans and implementations at public facilities and public-private partnerships to drive better quality care.

Meanwhile, the Country Director, PharmAccess Foundation, Njide Ndili, noted that various successful initiatives carried out in the State has proved how important public-private partnership in building Nigeria’s health sector could be.

Ndili said: “We will continue to aggregate resources from local and international funding partners to enable Kwara State achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

“We encourage other partners to join us and support State Government initiatives to fund health insurance for the poor and indigents.”
Other stakeholders the PharmAccess leadership paid courtesy visits include the Kwara State Commissioner for Health, Dr Raji Razak; State House of Assembly Committee Chairman on Health; Executive Secretary, Kwara State Health Insurance Agency, Dr ‘Bunmi Jetawo-Winter; Executive Secretary, Kwara State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Hon. Razak Owolabi; Director General, Kwara State Hospitals Management Board, Dr. Nusirat Elelu, the Director General, Kwara State Hospitals Management Board, Dr. Sa’ad Aluko.

An advocacy visit was finally made by the PharmAccess team to one of the community development associations that has partnered with the Kwara State Health Insurance Agency.

Also, the Executive members of Ilorin Emirate Youth Development Association (IEYDA) appreciated PharmAccess’ support to the State and promised to resume mobilizing people to register for the health scheme. The group recognized that reaching Universal Health Coverage can only be achieved with partnerships like this