Health Experts Urge Journalists to Use Data to Hold PHC System Accountable
By Uangbaoje Alex, Kaduna
Health experts have challenged journalists in Kaduna State to embrace evidence-based reporting as a tool for strengthening accountability, influencing policy reforms and improving primary healthcare service delivery.
The call was made on Tuesday during a two-day Media Engagement Workshop organised by the Kaduna State Ministry of Health in collaboration with ISMPH, the EngenderHealth Consortium and the Unified Health Media Network.
Speaking at the workshop, Programme Manager and Lead for Accountability, Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) at the EngenderHealth Consortium, Dr. Abdulazeez Jumare, said accountability journalism must move beyond highlighting problems to reporting verified evidence that reflects both the progress and the gaps within the health sector.
According to him, the Integrated Supportive Supervision (ISS) exercise, conducted quarterly across primary healthcare facilities, generates credible data on service delivery, infrastructure, medical supplies and the availability of health workers, providing journalists with a reliable basis for impactful reporting.
He urged journalists to complement official data with field investigations by visiting health facilities, engaging patients and healthcare workers, and producing balanced stories that can drive action.
Jumare identified inadequate human resources as one of the biggest obstacles to effective primary healthcare delivery in Kaduna State, revealing that although the state has more than 1,000 primary healthcare facilities requiring about 15,000 health workers for uninterrupted 24-hour services, only between 5,000 and 7,000 personnel are currently available.
He explained that the shortage leaves many facilities unable to provide round-the-clock care, contributing to delays in accessing critical services, particularly for women in labour and emergency cases.
He also cautioned journalists against one-sided reporting, urging them to seek responses from relevant authorities before publication to ensure fairness, credibility and balanced accountability reporting.
Also speaking, Deputy Director of Research, Planning and Evaluation at the Kaduna State Primary Health Care Board, Dr. Joseph Natsah, described data as the foundation of sound decision-making, noting that governments cannot effectively plan or improve health services without reliable evidence.
He said journalists have a crucial responsibility to simplify technical health data and communicate it to the public in ways that promote transparency and informed public discourse.
Director of Programmes at ISMPH, Solomon Dogo, said the engagement was designed to help journalists understand what health facility data reveals about government performance and healthcare delivery, stressing that evidence-based reporting can strengthen accountability and improve public confidence in the health system.
In a goodwill message, Chairman of the Kaduna Health Advocacy and Media Alliance (KADHAMA), Garba Muhammad, said the growing spread of misinformation has made evidence-based journalism indispensable.
He noted that a sound understanding of ISS findings, PHC Accountability Scorecards and PHC-FAT assessments would enable journalists to produce investigative stories that not only expose systemic weaknesses but also highlight improvements and influence policy decisions.
The workshop equipped journalists with practical skills to interpret primary healthcare accountability data, monitor health financing and budget performance, and develop impactful stories that hold institutions accountable while informing citizens on the state of healthcare delivery.
