The Civil Society in Malaria, Immunization and Nutrition (ACOMIN), one of the implementing partners on Global Malaria community led monitoring project being implemented in Adamawa and 12 other states have expressed concerned over dwindling resources and withdrawal of funding by donour agencies.
They call on the government at all levels, and communities to take ownership and make separate funding provision for Malaria, Tuberculosis, HIV among other diseases.
Speaking at a media briefing/meeting attended by stakeholders and other partners in Yola Tuesday, ACOMIN state programme officer, Laureta charles, said despite successes recorded in the fight against malaria, Nigeria is at a cross-road with donour funding shrinking and funding withdrawal.
She urged Nigerians to look beyond relying on external supports to sustain the progress made so far.
She further noted that there is the urgent need to transition from a dependency based model to the one rooted in local ownership, self-sufficient and long term resilience by harnessing and mobilising resources from within local communities.
She added that when communities invest in and take ownership of health initiatives transparency and accountability improves because people are more likely to monitored the effective use of resources and demand better quality services.
According to her, the community led monitoring initiatives being implemented in Adamawa state, have led to increased advocacy and mobilisation of religious congregations by religious leaders to support community based health care initiatives.
The program officer further appeal to government to fulfill their co- financial commitments, increased malaria budget and promote public- private partnerships especially in underserved areas to strengthen the national and subnational malaria respond.
She urged philanthropists, private sector among other stakeholders to join hands with government to support high impact Innervations such as ITN distributions and facilities upgrade.