Leadership, Management and Sustainability (LMS) Program

Nigeria – the most populous country in Africa – has some of the worst basic health indicators, including one of the lowest levels of family planning use in the world. One out of every five children in Nigeria dies before reaching their fifth birthday. However, a long period of relative political stability including the country's first ever civilian transfer of power in 2003 has allowed the government to reenergize the entire health sector. Over 200 new health centers have been constructed in the past four years; another 200 are to be built during the next four years. A basic package of minimum health services and a national service statistics project have been established at those health centers, emphasizing a preventative strategy, including vaccinations, reproductive health, and other maternal and child health services.

RESULTS IN COUNTRY

Through three different interventions, LMS has been working with more than 20 organizations in-country to apply leadership and management skills to improve performance in service delivery, resulting in more than 750 senior leaders trained in these practices.* Through the AIDS Care and Treatment Project (ACT):

A total of 158,537 people were tested for HIV/AIDS and received their test results;
42,356 pregnant women were tested for HIV, counseled and received results; 458 pregnant, HIV+ women received ARV prophylaxis.
2,848 Orphans and Vulnerable Children were provided with services.

Since July, 2009, through Prevention and Organizational Systems – AIDS Care and Treatment Project (LMS Pro-ACT):

48,593 people received HIV/AIDS counseling and testing.
13,496 pregnant women received HIV/AIDS counseling and testing
760 OVC received care

EXPERIENCE IN COUNTRY

Prevention and Organizational Systems - AIDS Care and Treatment Project (LMS ProACT)
Leadership, Management and Sustainability AIDS Care and Treatment (LMS-ACT) Project
CSO Capacity Building Project
Building Capacity with the Government of Nigeria
The PEPFAR Health Professionals Fellowship Program

Prevention and Organizational Systems – AIDS Care and Treatment Project (LMS ProACT)

ProACT is a five-year, 60 million dollar follow-on associate award to the Nigeria LMS AIDS Care and Treatment Project (LMS-ACT). ProACT continues to support HIV/AIDS and TB services in the six project states of Kogi, Niger, Kwara, Kebbi, Taraba, and Adamawa, while placing a stronger emphasis on building government and CSO capacity (organizational systems development) to strengthen health and HIV/AIDS systems for delivery of integrated health and HIV/AIDS and TB services. HIV prevention and AIDS care and treatment services, together with selected wrap around services (maternal, neonatal and child health including family planning, malaria and nutrition) will form the core package of services. Using gender-based approaches and through small grants program for local CSOs, the new project will support strengthening of community organizational systems for management of HIV/AIDS as a chronic illness and overall improvements in community health.

Additional Reading and Resources

Fighting against HIV & AIDS in Nigeria by Strengthening Men's Roles in Maternal and Child Health

LMS AIDS Care & Treatment LMS AIDS Care & Treatment (ACT)

LMS ACT was an 20 month, PEPFAR funded associate award under the overall LMS Leader Award, that ended in July, 2009. The ACT Project was designed to rapidly scale up availability and increase accessibility to quality comprehensive AIDS prevention, care and treatment services. While the ACT project met this objective, it also worked to develop the capabilities of Nigerian public sector and non-governmental organizations in leadership and management in support of service delivery of integrated HIV/AIDS programs including HCT, ART, PMTCT, Palliative Care, TB/HIV and OVC. In addition, the ACT project emphasized building health systems (human resources, infrastructure, management information systems, quality assurance, referral and commodity management) to be responsive to the needs of HIV/AIDS and TB clients. The project is built health workers’ skills in technical HIV/AIDS and TB prevention and control and to support them to provide comprehensive AIDS services.

Read More on LMS ACT

CSO Capacity Building (CB) Project

The Capacity Building (CB) Project provides comprehensive, continuous institutional capacity building support to strengthen the essential management and operations systems of nascent Nigerian NGOs and CSOs. This support is to enable NGOs and CSOs to receive and administer funds from PEPFAR to successfully meet their proposed HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment targets. In addition, the CB Project provides institutional capacity building support to selected government institutions and the Nigeria Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) to improve their ability to provide nationwide coordination, thereby increasing synergies and effectiveness of the PEPFAR programs. The CB Project also supports the PEPFAR Health Professionals Fellowship designed to develop the skills and strengthen the management and leadership capacity of health care providers to deliver HIV/AIDS services.

Additional Reading and Resources

Reaching the Unreached: Christian Health Association of Nigeria First Organization Approved to Receive US Government Funds

Building Capacity with the Government of Nigeria

LMS-Nigeria provides institutional capacity building support to selected government institutions to increase their abilities to provide nationwide coordination, thereby increasing synergies and effectiveness of the PEPFAR programs, thus improving HIV/AIDS service delivery. One of the institutions the LMS Capacity Building (CB) project supports is the Federal Ministry of Health’s HIV/AIDS Division (HAD). This support includes the procurement of information systems equipment and ongoing technical support in the management of those systems in order to improve service delivery. In addition, the CB project works with the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) division in the Federal Ministry of Women’s Affairs to increase their abilities to provide nationwide coordination. The CB project and the OVC division are making progress towards achieving their vision of a national health system that is run by highly trained personnel who constantly exhibit and apply the leading and management practices to achieve improved health outcomes. The CB project also supports the Country Coordinating Mechanism for Global Fund Activities in Nigeria. The CCM works to strengthen the capacity in oversight and monitoring of Global Fund projects, good governance, and increased capabilities in the training and operations of technical committees. The CB project has been asked to work with the State House Medical Centre (SHMC) in Abuja, which is attended by the President of Nigeria and other senior government leaders, to strengthen hospital management and the ART delivery program. Work began with the SHMC in the fall of 2009.

Additional Reading and Resources

Bringing New Hope for People Living with HIV/AIDS- Health Professional Fellowship Program reaches 270,000 Nigerians in 16 months (PDF)

The PEPFAR Health Professionals Fellowship Program

In 2007 Management Sciences for Health under a USAID/PEPFAR grant developed a Fellowship program designed to create cadres of health professionals who would be knowledgeable in HIV/AIDS prevention and care and treatment, skilled in their professional area, and highly motivated to improve health services within their facilities and communities. Since its inception the fellowship has trained and graduated 48 nurses and 33 physicians, who have completed step-down training for over 270,000 colleagues and community members on PMTCT, HIV/AIDS prevention and care, client centered services, community advocacy, leadership, and improved access to health services. Fellowship participants are chosen from each of the six geopolitical zones through a competitive process. The program focuses on three major overlapping areas: 1) enhanced professional skills; 2) in-depth knowledge of HIV/AIDS; and 3) leadership and management. Graduates leave the program with a new sense of purpose and new skills that will allow them to lead change within their communities and to have an impact in areas where development efforts often do not reach.