In a bid to reposition the health sector landscape in Nasarawa State through effective intra-sectoral coordination, which has been identified as a gap among health Ministry, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the Nasarawa State Ministry of Health in collaboration with DGI Consult hosted a 2-day retreat for the heads of health MDAs in Nasarawa State to foster coordination and collaboration towards achieving the state health sector objectives.

The 2-day retreat had in attendance the Honourable Commissioner for Health, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, and the heads of health agencies in Nasarawa State, which include: (a) Nasarawa State Health Insurance Agency (NASHIA); (b) Nasarawa State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NAPHDA); (c) Nasarawa State Drugs Supply Management Agency (NASDSMA); (d) Nasarawa State Agency for Control of AIDS (NASACA); (e) Hospitals Management Board; (f) Nasarawa State Infectious Disease and Research Centre; Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital; College of Health Science and Technology; and College of Nursing Science.

Through series of plenary sessions, the heads of the health MDAs defined the state’s health sector priorities and jointly identified effective mechanisms for promoting intra-sectoral coordination in the state. The retreat also included capacity building towards deepening the knowledge of the heads of the agencies on the concept of leadership and its implication for achieving effective intra-sectoral coordination. The heads of agencies were also acquainted with the modalities for organizing effective and issue-focused coordination meetings. Through a group work session, the participants developed a coordination framework for Nasarawa State health sector and identified possible coordination challenges and mitigation strategies. The coordination framework clearly outlines the stakeholder groups to be coordinated, the coordination platforms to be set up, the coordination tools to be used, as well as the expected immediate coordination outputs and impacts.

DGI Consult will provide necessary support to the Nasarawa State Ministry of Health to implement the recommendations from the retreat to further strengthen intra-sectoral coordination to achieve the health sector priority objectives in Nasarawa State.