Abiye joins MamaYe!'s accountability mechanism to save lives

  • accountability group Ondo Nigeria
    Members of the Ondo State Accountability Mechanism
Accountability in the handling of maternal and newborn health issues is fast becoming a national tool that transparent policy makers are willing and ready to embrace.

Ondo State, through the support of MamaYe! Nigeria has officially launched an accountability mechanism for Maternal and Newborn Health (MNH) named Ondo State Accountability Mechanism for Maternal Newborn and Child Health (ODAMM).

The Commissioner for Health in the State, Dr. Dayo Adeyanju, during the launch, acknowledged the importance of evidence-driven accountability mechanism in making informed decisions that affect maternal and newborn health.

“The Mechanism is such that will make the State scientific in its approach, as it would give the State the right statistics that is needed towards MDGs 2015. As the MDGs will be coming to a close in 2015, the State will have sufficient evidences to prove to the world that Ondo State has not just achieved the MDGs but has also gone beyond the MDGs.”

He said this knowing fully well that he would be accountable to the world on this claim. The Commissioner was also happy that MamaYe! Nigeria created a platform to unite various stakeholders in the State. He then urged stakeholders and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to contribute to the success of the mechanism.

MamaYe! Nigeria has been working with numerous CSOs to establish accountability mechanisms in four States (Bauchi, Jigawa, Kano and Ondo) in order to achieve the fulfilment of commitments made by policy makers to improve maternal and newborn health, to ensure transparency while fulfilling such commitments, and to fulfill such commitments based on evidence.

The accountability mechanism is made of sub-committees namely - Evidence, Advocacy and Knowledge Management, and Communication and Media sub-committees.The Evidence sub-committee produces data, which the Advocacy and Knowledge Management sub-committee use to inform the policy maker of the exact health need. For example, if a labour ward in a particular clinic, needs equipment and materials, the data will help them ensure that what is provided to that labour ward is the exact need and not what is based on whimsical decisions.Thus, the subcommittees help the policy maker in decision-making process that is now based on evidence and will go a long way to achieve the purpose of saving the lives of pregnant women (and their newborns).

Evidence-based advocacy thus leads to using resources rightly and efficiently to achieve beneficial outcomes.The Communication and Media subcommittee documents and shares the intervention and outcome of the Evidence and Advocacy and Knowledge Management subcommittees to serve as good example of achieving accountability using evidence-based advocacy. Such documentations can serve the purpose of learning and case studies that other interventions can adapt.

This is what Dr Aminu Magashi, MamaYe! Nigeria Evidence Advisor said about evidence and maternal and newborn health:

“Evidence is a piece of information that supports a conclusion and it is anything presented in support of an assertion. This support may be strong or weak. The strongest type of evidence is that which provides direct proof of the truth of an assertion.“

Evidence is most commonly thought of as proof supporting a claim or belief. For public health interventions, evidence typically refers to the effectiveness of an intervention in achieving an outcome that will create lasting changes in the health of the population.

MamaYe! Nigeria Country Director, Dr Tunde Segun said that when evidence is used, accountability is fuelled and inspired. He said,

“The evidence gotten will spur action towards maternal and newborn health, so that the money spent on MNH can then be compared to health outcomes.”

For other stories on Ondo State’s intervention to saving lives of mothers and newborns, click here.

  • Dr. Dayo Adeyanju, Commissioner for Health in Ondo State (centre)

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