LAPO blames government, institutions, others, for poor access to health service by rural dwellers

The management of Lift Above Poverty Organization (LAPO) has attributed low government spending, weak institutions, inadequate supervision and inadequate health professionals to poor access to health services by the rural dwellers.

Sabina Idowu-Osehebo, the executive director of the organization gave the hint at the 2017 LAPO Community Health Outreaches organised for Egba and Oregbeni communities in Ikpoba-Okha local government area of Edo state on Wednesday.

Osehebo said the organization community health outreach was necessitated by factors impeding the easy access to healthcare services by the rural dwellers.

“Low government spending combined with weak institutions and inadequate supervision lead to inadequate primary healthcare infrastructure with consequent poor healthcare delivery. Mostly affected are those in rural communities where many health facilities lack access to clean water and electricity with shortages of medical equipment and dearth of necessary medications to treat patients.

“The situation is further complicated by inadequate health professionals in these communities, resulting in poor access to health services for the rural dwellers that tend to bear a greater disease burden.

“A combination of these issues necessitated the LAPO Community Health Outreach to bring medical consultants and specialist doctors to target community to deliver quality health care services obtainable in tertiary teaching hospitals at no cost to the beneficiaries”, she said.

The LAPO executive director who said poor rural dwellers, women and children are mostly affected by the poor health care infrastructure in the country noted that 20 percent of mortality in under-5 children is occasioned by poor neonatal, antenatal and postnatal care, high prevalence of malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia.

She noted that the organisation had over the years demonstrated uncommon commitment to poverty alleviation through the implementation of innovative credit and non-credit empowerment programmes targeting disadvantaged groups.

She listed some LAPO programmes to include gender sensitisation aimed at reducing the level of gender inequality, social exclusion and health intervention which are prevention, care and treatment of HIV/AIDs, malaria and other tropical diseases.

Osehobo, however reeled out the achievements of the organization’s health programmes to include free screening of 135 women and 113 for cervical cancer in Benin and Ekpoma respectively in 2012 out of which 18 of the beneficiaries diagnosed with the Human Papillona Virus (HPV) were treated freely.

She also added that over 1.2 million persons were supported with health awareness programmes in 2016 while between October 2015 and December 2016, a total of 3,875 persons benefitted from LAPO Community Health Outreach (CHO) programme in various communities in Edo state covering full medical compliments and surgery.

According to her, between 2015 and 2016, LAPO improved the health condition of over 500,000 community members, most of whom are clients of LAPO microfinance bank across Nigeria with health services including screening for malaria, HIV, Hepatitis, blood sugar and blood pressure.

Those with ill-health conditions were referred to health centres with proper follow-ups.

IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, Benin