Our Stories – Coronams https://coronams.taqpageant.com Corona Management Systems Tue, 04 Apr 2023 03:51:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 230697181 A story from the front-lines: A Task Shared, a Problem Solved https://coronams.taqpageant.com/a-story-from-the-front-lines-a-task-shared-a-problem-solved/ Tue, 04 Apr 2023 02:49:14 +0000 https://coronams.taqpageant.com/?p=575
Imagine a system where a shortage of specialized health personnel does not necessarily mean that people are denied access to essential health services. A system where people seeking health services can confidently walk into a health facility, and be guaranteed that at least one of the health workers available will have the skill set to attend to their needs. This is the benefit of the Task Shifting and Task Sharing policy, a policy which aims increase effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of essential health services by maximizing the available human resources for health. In Bayelsa State, the work towards guaranteeing essential health services is no longer just an idea, but has become policy. This is so far a success story, that has seen tremendous stakeholder consensus among Doctors, Nurses, Midwives, Laboratory Scientists, Pharmacists, Community Health Workers and a number of other allied health workers on key essential health services that can be shifted and shared, to ensure that women and girls, and communities can have access to the services they need. The beauty of the Task Shifting and Task Sharing policy is how it seamlessly bridges the gap between health professionals who have been trained over longer periods of time, and health professionals who have been trained for shorter periods, allowing them to shift and share tasks, whilst working collaboratively to guarantee the quality of care for these essential health services. A smooth implementation of the policy of course requires training, mentorship, and supportive supervision, and the policy document itself includes an actual plan for the conduct of these activities that preserve quality of care and at the same time ensure access to essential health services.

Following months of negotiation between all the different cadres of health workers, the relevant regulatory councils, government agencies, partners, women groups and community representatives, Bayelsa State has taken a giant leap on the road to Universal Health Coverage and improved health outcomes through task shifting. With the wide array of stakeholders, all pursuing a common interest – the health and wellbeing of women, girls and whole communities – it is obvious that the importance of this mission cannot be overemphasized.

Even more satisfying than the process of developing this policy, are the rewards of this policy: availing hands that are capable of absorbing the effects of a global and local shortage of health workers, which consequently improves the health outcomes. Gains like these are responsible for thriving societies where preventable maternal and child deaths are at their lowest rate. For Bayelsa, services like routine antenatal care and routine uncomplicated deliveries, basic and emergency life-saving interventions, early and essential care for newborns and provision of family planning services are among these essential services that the State and the health professionals have all agreed to shift and share, for the good of women, girls and whole communities.

Corona Management Systems are proud to have provided technical support for Bayelsa State, to midwife this globally recommended solution and deliver visionary policy with the potential to preserve gains in reducing preventable maternal and child deaths in Nigeria and around the world. We look forward to continuing to support and hold Government accountable for the implementation of this policy, for our women, girls and whole communities.

]]> 575 A story from the frontlines: Lights. Camera. Action! https://coronams.taqpageant.com/a-story-from-the-frontlines-lights-camera-action/ Mon, 03 Apr 2023 08:47:26 +0000 https://coronams.taqpageant.com/?p=548

Mama Koko is a 36-year old rural fisherwoman and a mother of 2 kids, who live in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria. The Niger-Delta region, home to thousands of communities with extractive industries is one of Nigeria’s most deprived regions. It is faced with poverty, environmental contamination from oil spills, poor health-seeking behavior, and very poor geographical accessibility to health services. A few months ago, Mama Koko lost her 3rd baby to Tetanus 20 days after the boy was born. A death that could have prevented through vaccination.

 

Every year in Nigeria, thousands of kids die from diseases that vaccines can prevent. Out in the blossoming cities, access to and utilization of prenatal and postnatal care for a mother and her child is often not a point of concern. But in the creeks and in the communities strewn across the delta, the story is different for Mama Koko, many mothers like her, and their children.

Corona Management System (CMS) is leveraging the power of story-telling to change this!

A future not guaranteed

“The health workers tell me that my baby died of Tetanus and that vaccination would have saved him”

Mama Koko

Africa has a history steeped in Story-telling. For decades, we have faced up to the challenges of HIV/AIDS and Gender-based violence through story-telling. We have also addressed reconciliation post-genocide through story-telling. And now, we are working with women and girls in local communities to co-create, prototype, collect feedback, iterate, and perform plays that tell thousands of stories of women and children so that communities can demand vaccination services as a right and utilize these services fully.

 

Mama Koko’s greatest regret was not knowing about tetanus and the vaccine that she could have taken during her pregnancy to prevent her baby from getting. Through Community Theatre, we leverage the power of real stories to increase awareness, build trust, motivate communities, and support efforts to make doing the right thing, the easiest thing. Imagine Mama Koko and women like her working with us to co-create content, that educates and amplifies the positive stories that can increase demand for vaccination. Imagine watching women in communities, home from fishing and the market, gathered at the community center, watching Mama Koko and other community members act out their story

Visiting fisher women in the Creeks in the Niger-Delta
In communities in the Niger-Delta, in Yenagoa, Ekeremor, and in Ahoada-West, we are working with the leadership of the health system, the community leaders, the health workers, and community members to create and perform theatre to increase demand for vaccination services. Through community theatre, we are putting communities back at the center of primary healthcare service delivery by strengthening their involvement in vaccination services as an entry point to the entire health and well-being of the community. Mama Koko has lived the worst experience and she is the right person to tell her story. Let her story, reshape the world for millions of other women and children!
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