NEPWHAN pays advocacy visit to IMOSACA DG
Pushes community-led monitoring to improve HIV, TB, malaria services in Imo*
The Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN), under its Integrated Community-Led Monitoring (CLM) Project, has paid an advocacy visit to the Acting Director-General of the Imo State Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS (IMOSACA), Dr. JohnPaul Ibebuike, to deepen collaboration and improve health service delivery across the state.
The CLM project, supported by the Global Fund under the N-THRIP GC7/GC8 grant, is being implemented in 32 Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) sites and other service delivery points (SDPs) across Imo State. It is designed to strengthen accountability, improve service quality, and ensure greater accessibility and responsiveness in HIV, TB, malaria, and other integrated health services.
The visit formed part of NEPWHAN’s stakeholder engagement strategy aimed at presenting findings from ongoing community monitoring and fostering stronger partnerships with government agencies.
The advocacy team included representatives from Circuit Pointe Charity Foundation, Peoples’ Health and Economic Development Centre (PHEDEC), Youth Awake for Better Society (YABS), the NEPWHAN Imo State team, and media representatives.
Speaking during the visit, Mr. Nwamadi Richard Onyema, Programme Officer of Circuit Pointe Charity Foundation and Lead CBO for the CLM project in Imo, outlined the project’s objectives, approach, achievements, and emerging challenges identified through community-led monitoring.
He noted that the project promotes education, evidence generation, engagement, and advocacy to ensure that feedback from people living with HIV and other service users translates into system improvements.
Key issues highlighted include recurring stock-outs of prevention commodities such as condoms, lubricants, PrEP, and PEP, limited scope of HIV Testing Services (HTS) and Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) services at some primary healthcare-level ART sites, and the need for strengthened community ownership of HIV, TB, and malaria responses.
Mr. Onyema reaffirmed NEPWHAN’s readiness to work closely with IMOSACA to address identified service gaps and improve coordination across the state.
In his response, Dr. Ibebuike commended NEPWHAN and its partners for the initiative, describing the Integrated CLM Project as timely and strategic. He noted that the initiative aligns with IMOSACA’s mandate to protect the rights of people living with HIV, promote accountability, and address service delivery challenges, including commodity stock-outs.
The Acting Director-General assured the team of the agency’s commitment to collaboration to enhance responsiveness, coordination, and sustainability of HIV and integrated health services in Imo State.
During the visit, the advocacy team presented copies of the Integrated CLM Project Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and an Advocacy Brief to IMOSACA for institutional reference.
The engagement marks a significant step in strengthening partnerships between government, civil society, and communities, reinforcing Community-Led Monitoring as a critical bridge between service users and the health system in Imo State.
