LAGOS HOLDS FIVE-DAY INTENSIVE WORKSHOP TO HARMONIZE Y2025 HEALTH PLANS ACROSS MDAS

… As State Health Sector Gears Up for Unified 2025 Strategic Goals

The Lagos State Ministry of Health has convened the Year 2025 Lagos State Health Sector Annual Operational Harmonization Workshop, aimed at aligning the 2025 Annual Operational Plan (AOP) across various health Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) in the state.

Through this workshop, the Ministry seeks to create a cohesive roadmap for health initiatives, ensuring efficient resource allocation and eliminating redundancies via strategic alignment.

This pivotal five-day event, currently being held at the Orchid Hotel in Lekki from Monday, October 28 to Friday, November 1, 2024, brings together key health officials, representatives from diverse health agencies, departments, and development partners, all essential to Lagos State’s health sector.

Participants include planning, programme, and desk officers from the State Ministry of Health, Health Service Commission, Primary Health Care Board, Health Districts and Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, demonstrating the government’s dedication to fostering a comprehensive and inclusive planning process.

During his visit to participants at the event on Thursday, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye stated that the varied stakeholders in attendance are pivotal to ensuring the AOP aligns with the broader Health Sector Strategic Blueprint (HSSB) and Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp) strategies.

Dr. Ogboye disclosed that the SWAp coordinating office has recently increased strategic engagements with health sector stakeholders across Lagos, laying the groundwork for enhanced coordination and resource management.

“As part of the state’s SWAp implementation roadmap, a Top Management Committee meeting was held earlier in October, where senior officials identified and validated state-specific priorities within the HSSB. This high-level session solidified Lagos’s 2025 health agenda, providing clear guidance for the workshop participants”, he explained.

He emphasised that by aligning state-level health priorities with the national HSSB, Lagos can strengthen its eligibility for grants such as those from the World Bank’s HOPE Project, which supports health governance reforms and enhances healthcare service delivery.

Dr. Ogboye also stressed the importance of aligning the AOP with the state’s budget cycle. “It would have been ideal if this AOP had been finalised before the state budget was fully drawn up,” he noted, explaining that this would enable more precise funding forecasts and reduce funding gaps. A synchronised approach, he added, would better support the government in meeting the healthcare needs of Lagos residents.

The Permanent Secretary further highlighted the significance of robust data collection and tracking mechanisms to support ongoing health initiatives, pointing out that accurate data is essential for monitoring and evaluating progress. “Data sources must be reliable to ensure successful follow-up and performance evaluation,” he stated.

Reflecting on the workshop’s progress, Dr. Ogboye commended participants for their dedication and the strong sense of unity within the health sector. “I’m truly proud of the team’s commitment to delivering as one, with one plan, and one budget,” he said, underscoring the collaborative spirit driving Lagos’s healthcare planning.

He also expressed gratitude to partners like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, UNFPA, and the Global Fund, whose support has been vital in shaping Lagos State’s health strategies. “Out of the 36 states, we’re grateful they’ve chosen to support us,” he said, acknowledging their commitment to the state.

Earlier, Director of Health Care Planning, Research, and Statistics, in the State Ministry of Health, Dr. Jumoke Oyenuga opened the session by emphasising the workshop’s goal to ensure every health initiative planned for 2025 is fully integrated into the AOP.

“This workshop is essential for creating a well-structured operational plan that targets key intervention areas,” she said, stressing that collaboration among MDAs is crucial to prevent overlaps and foster a more effective health service delivery framework.

Dr. Oyenuga explained that a key objective of the workshop is to foster alignment among MDAs and development partners, promoting a unified approach to healthcare delivery across Lagos.

A core part of the five-day workshop, she noted, includes a thorough review of the Situation Analysis (SITAN) and the MDAs’ Annual Operational Plans. The workshop explores areas like SWOT analyses – assessing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats – to ensure the 2025 AOP tackles potential challenges while capitalising on available resources and capabilities. “These assessments aim to streamline operational plans, ensuring all activities are well-supported and actionable,” she added.

Dr. Oyenuga disclosed that participants have been diligently working to complete and refine the AOP templates, ensuring each MDA’s responsibilities and objectives are clearly defined. She shared that the participants, often working late into the night, are committed to finalising these templates accurately to support effective health sector planning in the coming year.

As the workshop advances, it is clear that Lagos State is setting the stage for a harmonised health sector that aligns with state, national, and global health priorities. By the workshop’s conclusion, participants aim to have a finalised AOP to steer the state’s health initiatives for 2025, ensuring a coordinated and impactful healthcare delivery system for Lagos’s population.