Health insurance scheme: Agency tasks media to sensitise Kaduna residents
The Kaduna State Health Management Authority (KADCHMA) on Thursday engaged a media group to sensitise and mobilise residents to subscribe to its health insurance scheme.
The Director-General of the authority, Mr Abubakar Hassan, said at the opening of a two-day meeting with journalists in Zaria, that the engagement would help to inform residents about the scheme.
The two-day roundtable with members of the State Media Working Groups (SMWG) was organised by KADCHMA, with support from Save the Children International (SCI), an NGO.
According to Hassan, partnering with the media is strategic to achieving the mandate of KADCHMA, stressing that the media remains a critical tool for information dissemination and social mobilisation.
He said, “Our engagement with the media is to build strong foundation for holistic understanding of KADCHMA’s mandates and its activities.
“We want the media to understand what we do, how we do it and why, to be able to effectively communicate to.the public, sensitise them and mobilise them to key in.
“The success of our media engagement will serve as model for other government agencies and groups to emulate.”
The Director-General added that the media would equally assist in tracking the delivery of services at health facilities to determine the quality of services, in line with the goal of the scheme.
KADCHMA’s Head of Marketing and Business Development, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, said that the objective of the media roundtable was to review the agency’s communication strategy and to make plans.
Mohammed said that the meeting was also to increase the understanding and knowledge of media partners on the activities of KADCHMA, the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) and healthcare financing.
He said, “We want to share the proposed communication messages with the media and enlist their support for sensitisation and enrollment into the state’s health insurance scheme.
“The meeting was also to strengthen partnership for robust reportage of the health sector as it affects financing in Kaduna State.”
The chairman of the State Media Working Group, Mr Philip Yatai, commended KADCHMA for extending a hand of partnership to the group, describing it as a bold step toward effective information dissemination.
Yatai said, “This is the second time KADCHMA is collaborating with the media group. The first was on creation of visibility about the state of Universal Health Coverage in Kaduna State.
“We are hoping that this partnership would build on the foundation already established for a robust reportage of the authority’s activities to create the needed awareness about the health insurance scheme.”
The Chairperson of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Kaduna State Council, Hajiya Asma’u Halilu, commended KADCHMA for the partnership and reiterated commitment of the union to support in awareness creation.
Halilu, who was presented by the council’s Treasurer, Mr Nicholas Dekera, said that the media engagement would help to take key messages to every nook and cranny of the state.
Also, the SCI Advocacy and Campaign Assistant, Ms Amabel Olukotun, said that the synergy with the media would help in promoting the health insurance scheme, and to achieve Universal Health Coverage.
