Agriculture and Economic Growth

Environment and Natural Resources

Citizens International and its partner organization, the New Nigeria Foundation, initiated the Community Health Services Program (CHSP) in the nine states of the Niger Delta Region in February 2001. The overall goal of CHSP is to improve the health status of populations in targeted communities with a special focus on mothers and their under-five children.

The Community Health Services Program seeks to improve local governance on health related issues and to strengthen linkages between remote rural health clinics and their supporting secondary health facilities. To accomplish these objectives, CI and NNF have facilitated the establishment of Community Health Committees (CHCs) at each CHSP site. CHCs are democratically elected bodies chosen by their communities to implement CHSP activities and to liase with state and local government authorities on public health matters. At least half of each CHC’s members must be women. All CHC members receive training in organizational management and basic literacy and numeracy from high-capacity Nigerian NGOs. To facilitate communication between CHSP villages and their supporting secondary clinics, CI and NNF are working to bring appropriate Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) – from ham radios to full service IT centers – to every CHSP site.

Recognizing that different communities may have different health needs, CI and NNF have adopted a participatory approach to identify and prioritize the needs of each CHSP community. Following a thorough, demand-driven needs assessment, we tailor a health services delivery plan specific to each community’s expressed concerns, in keeping with national health policy objectives and the principles of shared financing, community-based management, and preventive health care. In every case, emphasis is placed on preventing the spread of infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and other STDs, and on strengthening local capacities for effective health care delivery. Ensuring the availability of potable water, essential drugs, a well maintained health center, and appropriately trained health center staff are high priorities for every CHSP site.

The Community Health Services Program receives in-kind and financial support from a range of sources including the United Nations Foundation, UNDP, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, ExxonMobil-Mobil Producing Nigeria, and several Nigerian State Governments. CHSP is currently underway in all nine states of the Niger Delta Region and will soon be expanding into Bauchi, Gombe, and Niger States.

CHSP is expected to double its coverage – from 150,000 to 300,000 beneficiaries – over the course of its first full year.