PLASCHEMA Holds Enrollee Town Hall Planning Meeting, Validates Tool for Community-Based Health Insurance Scheme

The Plateau State Contributory Health Management Agency (PLASCHEMA) has successfully held an enrollee town hall planning meeting and validated a tool to be deployed for the recently initiated Community-Based Health Insurance Scheme (CBHIS).

The town hall meeting was held on Thursday, 9th October 2025, at the Plateau State Primary Healthcare Development Board, Jos. The meeting provided an opportunity for stakeholders, PLASCHEMA staff, and officials of the Primary Healthcare Development Board to discuss challenges to service utilization, co-create solutions with beneficiaries, sensitize beneficiaries on the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) and its minimum benefit package, enroll more community members under the informal sector plan, and identify challenges faced by facility managers during BHCPF implementation.

The validation meeting, held on Friday, 10th October 2025, at the Sarau Event Center, Jos, drew key stakeholders involved in promoting universal health coverage in rural communities across the state.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the two-day event, the Director General of the Agency, Dr. Dawal S. Kwande, explained the importance of the validated tool and emphasized that the future of health insurance in Plateau State lies in the successful rollout of the new community-based health insurance initiative.

“This meeting is a platform we created to bring together digital health stakeholders for the purpose of validating the baseline assessment tool that the agency intends to roll out. The goal is to gather information from communities and health facilities on the contextual factors and drivers that will support the implementation of a community-based health insurance scheme in Plateau State,” he said.

Dr. Kwande recalled that in August, during the State Council on Health, the agency presented a memo to the council expressing its intention to develop and implement a community-based health insurance programme aimed at capturing a larger proportion of Plateau’s population under the health insurance scheme.

“This meeting is a follow-up to that approved memo as we move to the next stage of gathering data from the communities. Once we begin administering this tool, it will help us develop a framework that will eventually lead to a policy document guiding the implementation of community-based health insurance in Plateau State,” he added.

He explained that while PLASCHEMA has made significant progress in implementing the social health insurance scheme as a vehicle for achieving universal health coverage (UHC), a large gap still exists. Currently, only about 5% of Plateau’s population is covered, leaving a significant portion of residents uninsured, particularly those in remote areas far from the metropolis.

Dr. Kwande further emphasized the importance of the tool in bridging existing gaps that hinder the achievement of UHC in Plateau State.

“To bridge this gap, we need a system rooted in solidarity — one based on the mutual commitment of people within their localities, where communities can take ownership of the programme’s implementation,” he said.

He disclosed that two questionnaires would be administered — one targeting selected primary healthcare centers (PHCs) across Plateau’s wards to identify contextual factors that can drive CBHIS implementation. This includes assessing human resource availability, existing social networks, and both horizontal and vertical social capital structures within communities — all of which can strengthen implementation at both facility and individual levels.

“Once this tool is administered, we will collate and analyze the data to identify the drivers that can be harnessed to make Plateau State a national model for achieving universal health coverage in Nigeria,” he noted.

Dr. Kwande commended the unwavering support of His Excellency, the Governor of Plateau State, Barr. Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, whose leadership, he said, has been instrumental in the progress recorded by the agency through timely remittances and sustained institutional backing.

“Through this commitment, we are exploring innovative ways to utilize available funds to extend coverage to more people, ultimately improving health outcomes across the state. For the people of Plateau to continue contributing to the state’s social, economic, and political development, they must remain in good health. Health insurance, therefore, serves as a crucial instrument to keep our people in an optimal state of well-being,” Dr. Kwande stressed.

He also outlined the modalities for the pilot phase of the scheme.

“We have identified 34 state wards where the tool will be administered. In each ward, we plan to reach six communities to ensure a representative sample. Within one to two weeks, we expect to gather the initial data from the field. Following that, we will pilot the community-based health insurance in those 34 wards for about three months. The evidence collected will be used to assess effectiveness and guide the scale-up of the programme across all wards in Plateau State,” he explained.

Earlier in his remarks, the Honourable Commissioner, Plateau State Ministry of Health, Dr. Nicolas Baamlong, commended PLASCHEMA for its continued progress and the validation exercise, which he described as critical to the success of the community-based health insurance scheme.

“I appreciate the efforts of the agency’s leadership, particularly the current acting head, who has continued the good work of his predecessor. I believe many positive developments will continue to take place within PLASCHEMA,” Dr. Baamlong said.

“Regarding the community-based health insurance scheme — I know some people may have reservations because they think it has too many pitfalls. But from the strategy PLASCHEMA is adopting, I believe we can modernize the system and make it very effective. When that happens, everyone will appreciate and trust it.”

He further urged stakeholders to scrutinize the validated tool thoroughly to ensure its accuracy and effectiveness.

“This validation exercise is very critical. Let us review the tool line by line, make adjustments where necessary, and ensure that when it’s used, it produces reliable data. That data should then be interpreted in ways that strengthen the implementation of the community-based health insurance scheme,” he concluded.