The Lagos State Health District I has called for stronger community partnerships and innovative resource mobilisation to solve endless challenges affecting the state’s Primary Healthcare (PHC). This call was made during the two-day 2026 Strategic Management Retreat, held from Oct. 29 to 31 at Orchid Hotel, Lekki, Lagos.
This year's retreat brought together health administrators, medical directors, healthcare professionals, and other stakeholders to discuss the theme, “Constraints to Creativity: Harnessing Untapped Resources in Primary Healthcare.”
Delivering her address, the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Health, Dr (Mrs) Kemi Ogunyemi, challenged healthcare workers to recognise their contributions as an important resource for improving primary healthcare.
Start tomorrow informed
Save your place for the morning brief. We’ll start emailing when delivery goes live.
Free. Confirm by email. Unsubscribe anytime.
She described frontline workers as the most significant untapped resource, noting that their daily efforts often go unrecognised despite the difficult conditions under which they operate.
Ogunyemi recalled situations where healthcare workers had to attend to patients using phone torchlights during power outages. She then urged them to remember these scenes and use them as motivation to create lasting creativity. She also highlighted the experiences of pregnant women who trek long distances to access healthcare, only to discover that essential medicines are unavailable.
While noting that the Retreat provided an opportunity for participants to reflect, strategise, and identify possibilities within existing resources, the Special Adviser urged all Lagos Health Districts to collaborate instead of operating in isolation. She stressed that their shared responsibility was to improve healthcare services for residents and strengthen the working conditions of health personnel.
As part of efforts to encourage practical solutions, the Special Adviser made public an existing ₦1 million innovation award involving all six Lagos State Health Districts to compete, as each of the districts is expected to develop and submit one innovative, feasible and measurable proposal to the Ministry of Health.
She explained that the competition was designed to encourage health districts to develop solutions that could improve service delivery without depending entirely on additional government funding. The Ministry, she said, will review the submissions and select one proposal for funding and implementation, with the winning district receiving ₦1 million.
Dr. Ogunyemi also discussed the potential use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other digital technologies in primary healthcare. She disclosed that discussions had taken place with a technology group known as IED on possible applications of artificial intelligence in electronic medical records, patient documentation, voice transcription, and clinical support.
On community engagement and referral systems, Dr. Ogunyemi further called for stronger engagement with traditional birth attendants, noting that some communities continue to rely on them for maternal healthcare. Rather than simply opposing their involvement, she urged healthcare authorities to educate and engage them on recognising pregnancy complications and referring women to appropriate health facilities.
Discussion0