Reasoning With VSF on Health Intervention Strategies

One of the worst experiences any human being can encounter in a lifetime is permanent disability. In other words, for a person that used to walk to suddenly be restricted to wheelchair; for an individual that has good eye sight to abruptly turn blind or for a woman with radiant facial beauty to get exposed to high degree burn that leaves her as scary ugly spectacle. The above descriptions as bad as they sound are just simple situations. Some are a combination of these while others are worse complications requiring advanced medical technology to manage.

These are the kinds of health challenges Boko Haram attacks are continuously generating at various localities in Nigeria where they operate especially at the North Eastern part turning out in great number human beings of various forms of handicap which made Victims Support Fund, VSF unable to ignore health intervention among its programmes.

When the terrorists detonate bombs at the market place, Church or Mosque, they leave behind unimaginable varying degrees of health casualties. The psychology of living with the situation is another weighty emotion for most of the victims. Just imagine persons who were complete in every human faculty but suddenly turned limbless just within seconds due to no faults of theirs, it is disheartening.

The matter is more disturbing with the health system in the Nigeria that is rather weak and unable to handle critical health situations which is perhaps one of the reasons why the number of Nigerians who usually go abroad for medical attention has continued to increase at an alarming rate. According to the former President of Nigeria Medical Association Dr. Osahan Onabulele, “Nigerians spend over N120 Billion on medical tourism annually while about 5,000 patients travel to Indian, Egypt and China for medical treatment every month”. Simple mathematics of the cost implication reveals huge cost to the Nigerian economy.

Further on the state of the health sector, the ravaging attack of Boko Haram has caused so many primary and secondary health facilities in the insurgency stricken areas to either shut down or relocate to safer places making it an uphill task for those with life-threatening injuries to access Medicare on time.

With the notion that health is wealth and that a healthy people is a wealthy people, it was considered imperative for more helping hands to be extended to the victims of Boko Haram insurgency in the health domain. Consequently VSF in its effort at meeting the pressing needs of Boko Haram victims added hospital health support and systems strengthening into its key programme area.

Prior to the time VSF had, based on research and consultation with other care-givers in the field, prepared for itself 3 priority areas of interventions considering where it has comparative advantage namely: Economic empowerment and livelihood issues, education empowerment and psychosocial support. However, seeing the enormity of the health challenges facing terror victims, VSF included provision of health support to its area of interventions in which it is presently supporting a total of sixteen hospitals across the country to enhance the quality of medical services provided free to the victims of insurgency.

Aside this strategic instance of hospital support projects strengthening the capacity of hospitals to provide free treatments to victims of armed and bomb attacks, the hospital support has aided hospitals extensively to acquire, up-grade and service their equipment to a standard that now enables them provide advanced services to the Nigerian people in much more effective ways. For instance, there are some hospitals, needless to mention the name, where VSF assisted in upgrading their radiological laboratory to aid in treatment of fracture or dislocation patients

For some time now the VSF model of health interventions has been attracting attention of humanitarian sector and care watchers for its innovative and economic approach that has proven to do be all encompassing.

For instance, while some complicated medical situations could have gulped over five million naira to seek medical attention abroad which when spread across the number of Boko Haram victims who would require such treatment, it translates into an amount the fund cannot afford, it strategically applied its resource to partner with and provide capacity to existing hospital to upgrade its health facility to now provide higher quality services locally.

Beyond all these VSF did not restrict its operation to a particular area of the country or civil populace alone but meticulously selected deserving health institution whose capacity enhancement will translate into a quantum leap as it relates to health care to boko haram victims.

According to an investigative report, VSF has supported two hospitals in Kano, two hospitals in Plateau state, one hospital in Abuja, National Hospital to be specific, being that these areas have less victims than the core North East where insurgency is at its height. For Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, greater number of Hospitals have been supported to attend to the growing health need of the victims in record time to reduce death rate.

In the same vein, military institutions which are at the fore front of fighting the Boko Haram Terrorist are not left out. In 2016, VSF signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nigerian Airforce Hospital and 7 Division Military Hospital Maiduguri. That brought a total number of medical facilities supported by VSF to sixteen. VSF also partnered with GABASAWA women and children initiative to donate medical equipment and supplies to Borno, Adamawa and Yobe Health Care Management Boards.
If the axiom ‘that how one manages a penny goes a long way to predict how one will manage a pound’ is anything to go by, then the enormous success recorded by VSF in the health intervention with the limited fund at its disposal, is a brilliant testimony that if supported with more funds, will perform magic.

What is much more pertinent is that Nigerians should learn to develop confidence in the ability of our indigenous health institutions to deliver good services. With the excellent partnership existing between VSF and indigenous hospitals, sky is just the limit.

Johnson is a Media Practitioner & writes in Abuja.