Family planning (FP) is crucial for advancing reproductive, maternal, and child health. FP has numerous positive benefits on the reproductive and sexual health of women including reducing unmet needs for contraception, lowering fertility, reducing complications from abortions, and preventing maternal and child deaths. These numerous benefits make it a critical factor for the improvement of Maternal Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) indices and development, especially in Nigeria, which has the largest population in sub-Saharan Africa.
In most recent times, interventions aimed at improving poor MNCH indices are focused on using financing mechanisms such as the State Social Health Insurance Schemes (SSHIS) as the vehicle for financing a basic package of health care for citizens and residents. In line with this, HSCL is providing technical assistance to the government at the sub-national level to strengthen the capacity for strategic purchasing for family planning services through private providers using the state health insurance scheme as a vehicle.
Project Goal
To strengthen the strategic purchasing function of the State Health Insurance Scheme for family planning services from private providers, to increase access and uptake of FP services.
Objectives
- Strengthen the infrastructure and capacity of the Lagos State Health Management Agency and associated agencies for strategic purchasing of health services (inclusive of FP)
- Strengthen the capacity of private sector providers for efficient delivery of FP services
- Build the capacity of state actors to develop and implement interventions on demand generation for FP services.
Related Activities
- Conducted scoping assessment to determine the current status of the state health insurance scheme, FP integration efforts and refine technical assistance plan
- Engaged Lagos State Health Insurance Agency (LASHMA), the Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA), State Ministry of Health, development partners in the state, providers and other key stakeholders, to understand the landscape and develop the FP integration concept
- On-going technical assistance and capacity-building support to Lagos State Health Insurance Agency to improve the systems, processes, and capacity for health insurance management in Lagos.