The Country Director of PACT Nigeria, a non-governmental organization very active in the area of primary healthcare research, has praised the American University of Nigeria as an ideal, globally renowned institution where quality research can be disseminated.
Dr. Audu Liman passed this verdict at the end of a two-day research evaluation seminar on primary healthcare in Adamawa State. The seminar was hosted at AUN on June 22 and 23.
“Adamawa State in particular is very fortunate to have a unique institution that has been graded as having one of the best digital libraries in Africa. We should use that resource…We no longer have to rely on the research at Oxford University, or research at MIT to carry out what to do because the human resource to do that, the technical capacities to do that, and the lecturers are all here in Nigeria.”
Liman encouraged other NGOs to consider AUN when choosing a University for such research seminars. The healthcare evaluation research seminar was a joint project of the Adamawa State Primary Health Care Development Agency (ASPHCDA) and PACT Nigeria.
Participants included leadership from 11 state ministries of health, as well as primary healthcare development agencies and other concerned groups. AUN faculty members and summer students also attended, including Dr. Jennifer Vincent-Tyndall of the AUN School of Natural & Environmental Sciences, who moderated the seminar. Representatives from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, International Rescue Committee, Pastoral Resolve (PARE), UNICEF, World Bank, and Management Services for Health were there. Three other educational institutions were represented: Gombe State University, University of Jos, and the Federal College of Education, Gombe.
Participants made recommendations to the Government of Adamawa and other stakeholders regarding appropriate steps to improve healthcare services, especially for women and children.
Dr. Liman said the report will be available in four weeks for launching. There will also be a journal publication. “We are committed to continuing to support the research by making it available globally. There is a separate group looking at the research to write it up for publication in international journals. This way the body of knowledge in public health in Nigeria will expand.”
Regarding the relevance of involving students and academic staff in the critique of the research methodology, and in providing feedback on the original research, Liman said: “This will help what AUN is doing, which is training students to become innovators, managers, and leaders, as those of us who are getting older edge out of the business. It is only by involving academia and universities in this kind of work that both the demand creation and the innovation can continue to happen.”
PACT Nigeria, through its public health initiatives, works to empower the local poor through better healthcare. This seminar was to evaluate PACT’s just-concluded research on healthcare delivery in Adamawa. The research goal was to provide empirical evidence to identify bottlenecks to health services supply, demand, and use in the State.
The purpose of the seminar, says Liman, was to share preliminary findings. He added that similar research, which was begun last year in Bayelsa State, will be conducted in 10 other states across Nigeria.
“The sole aim is to begin to do data-driven interventions. The best intervention is that which is driven by what the people need.”
Dr. Bisayo Odetoyinbo kicked off discussions in the seminar with “Assessment of Health Services Provision in Adamawa State,” while Professor Ogoh Alubo and Dr. Anande Hunduh facilitated the second-day session on “The Political Economy Analysis of Health Systems Funding in Adamawa State.”