In November 2022, the Honourable Commissioner for Health in Yobe State, Nigeria invited YOVAM to conduct the assessment following sustained advocacy to his office. In 2022, YoVAM noted the need for equitable distribution of skilled health care workers in the state as a priority issue. The assessment is currently ongoing and is expectated to be complete by end of January 2023.
Results from this assessment will go a long way to improve health outcomes of women, girls and babies across all health facilities in Yobe State. For YOVAM, it will also provide the needed data and evidence for their advocacy ask on redistribution of skilled health workers. This assessment is also contributing strongly to build capacity of the coalition members in data collection.
Once the exercise is complete, a database of health workers in the state will be established. This database will be useful to inform policy and actions on human resources for health in the state. The coalition could also use the data to establish baselines and targets for tracking progress on equitable distribution of health care workers, being one of its advocacy priority issues.