By Kemi Olatunde

To enhance access to quality health services, strengthen institutional implementation, and improve community well-being, a two-day state-level training of trainers on grievance redress, gender-based violence, and healthcare waste management has commenced in Ondo State.

The event, which began on Thursday in Akure, the Ondo State capital, was organised by Immunisation Plus and Malaria Progress by Accelerating Coverage and Transforming Services (IMPACT) Project.

In his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary of the Ondo State Primary Health Care Development Agency (OSPHCDA), Dr Francis Akanbiemu, stated that the training is crucial to the IMPACT Project and other national and international programmes.

Represented by the Director of Medical Services at the agency, Dr Paulinus Omode, he said many of the participants had been involved in the topics in an informal way.

He charged them with the need to be attentive to the new areas of knowledge acquisition to cascade it to the grassroots.

Giving an overview of the IMPACT Project, Mrs Adesola Adeyinka stated that the initiative is being implemented in all states in Nigeria, noting that Ondo State is executing all components, including immunisation, malaria, and immunisation plus.

She explained that it aims to improve the utilisation and quality of immunisation plus and malaria services in selected states in Nigeria, adding that it is designed to reduce the under-five mortality rate and decrease the percentage of febrile children under five in the last two weeks who were treated with ACTs.

According to her, the project is expected to strengthen routine immunisation, maternal, neonatal, child health, and nutrition service delivery in the context of bolstering primary healthcare.

Project beneficiaries, she said, include under-five children, women, and the state health system.

In his presentation on an overview of the IMPACT Project activities in relation to environmental and social safeguards, IMPACT Project Manager Dr Paulinus Omode stated that the initiative, funded through the World Bank’s Investment Project Financing, is classified as a Category B project involving minor renovation of health facilities and warehouses as well as the distribution of long-lasting insecticide nets.

He noted that the environmental and social risks commonly identified in the project include land acquisition and resettlement, labour and working conditions, occupational health and safety, waste management, community health safety and security, adequate stakeholder engagement and lack of transparency, gender-based violence, lack of environmental and social inclusion in projects, and air, water, and soil pollution, among others.

In her presentation on the principles of an effective grievance redress mechanism (GRM), Catherine Ogunjebi of the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) described GRM as a set of structures, procedures, and processes by which complaints, queries, or clarifications about the project are responded to, problems arising from implementation are resolved, and grievances are addressed effectively.

She noted that project GRMs have the advantage of being close to the affected community, tailored to the project’s expected impacts, and potentially able to provide quick resolutions and, when necessary, systemic corrective measures.

Ogunjebi added that the data emerging from grievance redress reports can help the project evaluate the efficiency of health service delivery activities.

Speaking on the expected types of grievances, she listed relatively minor and one-time problems related to health service delivery, relatively minor but repetitive issues, major complaints over health service delivery that have significantly affected a larger population, and cases where some beneficiaries fail to receive project benefits such as Long-Lasting Insecticide-Treated Nets (LLINs), Artemisinin Combination Therapy (ACT) packs, Sulphadoxine Pyrimethamine (SP) for pregnant women, and SPAQ (Sulphadoxine + Amodiaquine) for SMC seasonal malaria chemoprevention.