The Minister of Health, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin had a ‘Town Square Meeting’ with the people of Lere community in Kaduna State on Thursday, 17th December, 2009. The meeting was a Consultative Health Forum during which the leadership of the Ministry discussed directly with the people openly on health related issues affecting them.

The initiative, tagged ‘Consultative Health Forum’ was also expected to provide a platform for the Ministry to present and explain the Ministry’s policy direction to them, in an environment that is devoid of the conventional bureaucratic gaps. At the heart of this objective was the need for the ministry and its policies to be responsive to citizens ‘views’.  

Lere town in Kaduna state was the venue of the first in the series of the forum which is expected to go round the 6 geo political zones of the country.

The forum also afford the ministry the opportunity of a direct feedback from ordinary Nigerians about their perceptive, opinions, concerns, hopes and suggestions about the basic health services in their communities. The process was expected to build public trust in the activities of the ministry on the one hand while it will also make political leaders, policy makers and government more responsive, transparent and accountable with public information on the other hand.

The Lere health forum will focus on maternal and child health along with related issues of water, sanitation and Malaria and will primarily be discussed with women and men of reproductive age, representatives of key health oriented Civil Society Organizations, Community Based Organizations, and Faith Based Organizations with track records of visibility in the local government area. In order to have a robust discussion, all political leaders from Lere LGA, policy makers, traditional/community leaders and religious leaders were mobilized and invited to participate and contribute to the success of the forum.

This was a new and conscious approach to public information and accountability on the part of the ministry with more interaction between the policy makers and the public and will also bring about more shared understanding of health issues and system and gradually lead to trust and collaborative governance for health between both parties.

Niyi Ojuolape
Special Assistant (Communications) to the Minister
Federal Ministry of Health
Abuja