On June 16, 2026, a high-level advocacy team led by the Greater Women Initiative for Health and Rights (GWIHR) paid a strategic visit to the Abia State Primary Health Care Development Agency (ABSPHCDA). The delegation, which brought together the GWIHR program team, the State TB Network Coordinator, and the Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN) Abia State Chapter, aimed to secure government support to improve tuberculosis (TB) testing and general healthcare inclusiveness for patients across the state.
During the meeting, the Team Leader from GWIHR, Mr. Jude Obiano, presented key findings gathered through the Community-Led Monitoring (CLM) initiative under the N-THRIP program a Global Fund grant implemented by the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN), with GWIHR serving as a sub-sub-recipient through NEPWHAN. Mr. Obiano revealed that the team had successfully conducted 1,800 client exit interviews between January and June of this year across 10 approved primary and secondary healthcare facilities in Bende, Isiala Ngwa South, Isuikwuato, and Umuahia North Local Government Areas (LGAs).
He explained that this rigorous data collection captured real-time community experiences to help strengthen the public health ecosystem. While the data showed a commendable 81.7% level of community awareness regarding available healthcare services, it also exposed critical bottlenecks: structural dilapidation and fragmented diagnostic pathways were actively undermining patient safety and limiting effective TB testing.
Highlighting a specific area of concern, Mr. Obiano commended the state government for its impressive first phase of renovating 277 healthcare facilities to world standards and ensuring the steady provision of accessible malaria tests and medications. However, he made a passionate appeal for the Ukwuangwu Primary Health Care (PHC) centre in Uturu, Isiukwuato LGA, which is currently in a severe state of dilapidation, pleading for it to be included in the next phase of upgrades.
In response, the Executive Secretary of ABSPHCDA, Dr. Kalu U. Kalu, thanked the leadership of the visiting organizations and highly commended the CLM CBOs for driving such an impactful monitoring initiative. Addressing the specialization required for HIV and TB care, Dr. Kalu explained that Local Government Primary Healthcare Supervisors are heavily focused on grassroots sensitization to ensure rural communities recognize symptoms early.
He noted that the state government has dedicated 750 of its facilities to community treatment, a strategy specifically designed to ease stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS.
Turning to the infrastructure request, Dr. Kalu shared a major milestone: the Ukwuangwu PHC has officially been captured in the government’s next batch of healthcare facilities slated for retrofitting. He added that the Agency is also successfully delivering incentive packages to pregnant women to boost maternal health outcomes.
Concluding the session, Dr. Kalu expressed his profound gratitude to the State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, for his massive investments in the health sector and his unwavering commitment to delivering quality healthcare results for the people of Abia State.
