The Nigeria Independent Accountability Mechanism for maternal, newborn, and child health

Abstract

Since the 2010 launch of the UN Secretary-General's Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health, worldwide political energy coalesced around improving the health of women and children. Nigeria acted on a key recommendation emerging from the Global Strategy and became one of the first countries to establish an independent group known as the Nigeria Independent Accountability Mechanism (NIAM). NIAM aims to track efforts on progress related to Nigeria's roadmap for the health of women and children. It includes eminent people from outside government to ensure independence, and is recognized within government to analyze and report on progress. The concept of NIAM received approval at various national and international forums, as well as from the Nigeria Federal Ministry of Health. This experience provides an example of connecting expertise and groups with the government to influence and accelerate progress in maternal, newborn, and child health. Engagement between government and civil society should become the norm rather than the exception to achieve national goals.

Strengthening accountability for improved maternal and newborn health: A mapping of studies in Sub‐Saharan Africa

“…Strengthening the capacity of activists and the media on how to use human rights‐based advocacy builds awareness of problems and supports engagement and mobilization [33,38,41,42].…”

“…Multisectoral independent expert review groups rule on abuse, and track progress on MNH commitments and actions plans providing social and political impetus for action [38,41,42,46].…”

An Assessment of National Maternal and Child Health Policy-Makers’ Knowledge and Capacity for Evidence-Informed Policy-Making in Nigeria

“…This is supported by the outcome of the systematic review of Kana and colleagues 12 who noted that the development of evidence-based MNCH policies, implementation and publication of interventions corresponded with the downward trend of maternal and child mortality in Nigeria. However, despite the introduction of NEHSI 11 and other similar initiatives such as the Nigeria independent accountability mechanism for MNCH, 21 there is still insufficient interest and commitment on the part of policy-makers in transfer and uptake of research evidence into the health policy-making process in Nigeria. 22 …”

Understanding Internal Accountability in Nigeria’s Routine Immunization System: Perspectives From Government Officials at the National, State, and Local Levels

“…9,10 Most efforts to address accountability in health systems have focused on external accountability, ie, how communities interact with the system to improve responsiveness. 7,11,12 However, internal accountability, which involves the interactions of technical, managerial, and political actors within government, is of equal importance, and plays a foundational role in the quality of healthcare services. 3,13,14 …”

“…12,15 Routine immunization coverage in Nigeria has fluctuated in recent years, with only 38% of children reached with three doses of the DPT3/Penta3 vaccine (Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey [DHS] 2013); this compares to 68% in neighboring Cameroon (DHS 2011), and 89% in nearby, high-performing Ghana (DHS 2014). 16-18 There is significant heterogeneity in the strength of routine immunization systems among Nigerian states, and studies have attributed poor performance to accountability challenges crosscutting governance, service delivery, finance, human resources, logistics, and data management.…”