By Our Correspondent
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) says Cross River State will be the first and only state in the country to benefit from the Project Commission on Urgent Relief and Equipment (C.U.R.E).
The Senior Program Manager and Nutrition of USAID, Joseph Monehin stated this in Calabar recently in Calabar in a visit to heads of health parastatals in the state at the Ministry of Health headquarters alongside the Country Representative of Pathfinder International, Farouk Jega and the Program Director, Project C.U.R.E Amy Greene.
According to Greene, the equipment and materials for the implementation of the special program will be shipped into the state within a “reasonable time frame” pointing out that the Donor Agencies and development partners have jointly assessed and determined the facilities for the project.
Greene assured the equipment will be installed shortly after arrival and on sustainability, she averred that the program includes capacity building of relevant health personnel to effectively utilize and manage the equipment.
The Health Commissioner, Inyang Asibong and Director General of the State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Betta Edu in their remarks commended USAID and Pathfinder International in securing Project C.U.R.E. intervention on medical equipment in the state and called for more efforts from partners to help in the eradication of a wide range of diseases as well as patients management.
“We (have) continued to achieve significant strides in Maternal and Child health due to (the) consistent funding, effort and attention given by the governor to sustain results as a health priority in the global vision of development for 2030” Asibong said, adding that; “Our health sector will continue to make progress and come out best in any selection. We have a robust data system to measure the coverage of evidence based intervention for reducing maternal, newborn and child mortality which is needed to enhance services, improve health and monitor achievements”.
“(The) Project C.U.R.E initiative is very interesting as it will fill the gap of equipment to work with and the need to ensure that people living in the remote parts of the state have access to health care facilities” said Betta who stressed that though pregnant women and children already enjoy free medical care in the state, the current administration was passionate about sustainable healthcare delivery for the citizenry towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals on health in Cross River State.
According to Wikipedia, “the idea of PROJECT C.U.R.E. was created in 1987 by the founder, James W. Jackson while working as an international economic consultant with heads of governments in developing nations. During a trip to Brazil, Jackson observed how many of the clinics in rural areas were unable to accommodate many of the patients due to the lack of medical supplies and equipment and the large number of people seeking medical attention.
When Jackson returned home to Colorado, he collected about $250,000 worth of donated, surplus medical supplies under a month. He then personally paid for the shipping costs of the medical supplies to Brazil. Since that first shipment in 1987, PROJECT C.U.R.E. has expanded and now works in over 130 countries around the world”.
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