Nafisa Murtala
Kano State Ministry of Health has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the International Budget Partnership, IBP, to strengthen transparency, accountability and tracking of health sector financing in the state.
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The agreement was signed at the Emergency Operations Centre, Abdullahi Wase Teaching Hospital, formerly Nassarawa Hospital, Kano.
Representing the IBP Country Director, Dr Olayinka Babalola, at the ceremony, the organisation’s Policy and Strategy Lead, Onyekachi Chukwu, said the initiative was designed to provide a comprehensive picture of government and development partners’ investments in the health sector.
He explained that although Kano State had continued to invest substantially in healthcare, it had been difficult to determine precisely how funds were allocated and spent across the various agencies.
According to him, the Health Financing Dashboard will enable stakeholders to monitor expenditure by different health sector agencies in real time and identify where resources are going.
Chukwu added that the platform would also help stakeholders track gaps in service delivery and determine the reasons why certain health services were not being delivered as expected.
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Also speaking, the Gates Foundation State Representative in Kano, Dr Shamsuddin Sani, explained that, the foundation was supporting the initiative to address longstanding challenges in tracking financial flows within the state’s health sector, particularly primary healthcare.
Dr Sani said government and development partners had previously faced difficulties determining the total resources coming into the health sector, the amount being spent and potential leakages.
He stressed that,the project would help establish a clearer picture of resources available to the primary healthcare system and the broader health sector, including funding from government and development partners.
Dr Sani noted that the initiative would also help determine the actual financial requirements of the health sector and compare them with available resources.
On his part, the Kano State Commissioner for Health Dr Abubakar Labaran Yusuf said the partnership had already introduced improvements in budget planning, execution, monitoring and tracking.
He pointed out that, the Ministry had received a digital application that would enable officials to monitor budget performance and the activities of various units and agencies in real time.
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The commissioner expressed satisfaction with the development, describing the dashboard as an important tool for improving budget performance and accountability in the state health sector.
Dr Abubakar assured that the Ministry would sustain its partnership with the International Budget Partnership and continue working to improve budget releases, implementation and overall financial management in the health sector.