Group Calls for Community Empowerment for Disease Prevention and Control

By Praise Chinecherem

A coalition of health advocacy groups has issued a urgent call to break Nigeria’s reliance on foreign donors by empowering local communities to lead and manage their own health interventions.

The ATM (AIDS/HIV, TB, and Malaria) Network made the demand at a stepdown meeting in Awka, Anambra State, focusing on new national frameworks for Community-Led Monitoring (CLM) and Community System Strengthening (CSS).

ATM’s Anambra State Coordinator, Ify Unachukwu stated that the newly developed frameworks, funded by the Global Fund, provide a clear roadmap for establishing a harmonized and self-sustaining system for disease prevention and control. She emphasized that this shift is critical for long-term impact.

“Over the years, ATM CSO networks have made efforts towards these frameworks,” Unachukwu said. “They provide clear guidelines and operational modalities to support effective implementation and ensure community-led interventions are sustainable beyond external funding.”

The call for local ownership was echoed by other stakeholders. Prof. Dennis Aribodor, Zonal Coordinator for ACOMIN, urged participants to take the training seriously to ensure sustainability. “We should try to take ownership of the project because it’s all about us. That’s one sure way we can record success,” he stated.

Officials from the State Malaria Elimination Program and the Anambra State Primary Healthcare Development Agency pledged their support for the initiative, committing to assist in its implementation.

The program also ties into fundamental human rights, as noted by Obinna Maduforo of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), who stated, “Right to health means right to life. We must pay close attention to win the fight.”

The meeting’s goal was to disseminate the operational plans for the CLM and CSS frameworks, aiming to create a coordinated national effort that leverages community strengths to build resilient health systems for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other public health threats.