APIN, since 2000, has been involved in promoting positive social support systems as part of our execution of public health programs in thematic areas such as HIV/AIDS, Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH). Our programs combine facility-based approaches with community-directed initiatives to target vulnerable groups including children, adolescents, women, People Living with HIV etc.
In addition, we leverage existing local networks and work with a pool of community-based organizations, community development associations, ward health committees and the three tiers of government to design and execute effective and sustainable programs that reach a wider target audience, including people in hard to reach areas and most-at-risk populations.
Quality laboratory and diagnostic infrastructure is critical to ensure the delivery of clinical, public health and research services.
Over the years, we have worked with health and diagnostic facilities to identify their specific needs and to design context-appropriate, cost-efficient clinical laboratory systems that incorporate state-of-the-art technologies, information management systems and equipment; and that meet the global safety and quality standards required for the delivery of hematological, biochemical, immunological, bacteriological and molecular testing services.
Our Laboratory Services directorate provides technical expertise and builds the capacity of local health personnel for the screening, diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance of diseases of clinical and public health importance. We also continue to support the provision and use of point-of-care testing (POCT) devices to increase access to quality laboratory services at Primary Health Centres and remote health facilities in Nigeria.
APIN is a key resource for capacity building and training initiatives targeted at the health workforce. In addition to possessing a remarkable in-house capacity to review and develop training curricula and manuals, we have directly trained health care workers across all tiers and cadres of the health system.
In 2013, we became a certified Continuing Professional Development for the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) and have trained more than 1,000 medical doctors on numerous topics in HIV service delivery and health systems improvement. Additionally, we developed a 400- page Clinical Pharmacy training manual on HIV medicines that can be adapted for training pharmacists at the tertiary and secondary levels. We have developed comprehensive modules for training Pharmacist Technicians / Assistants in basic antiretroviral dispensing and drug management.
In recognition of our capacity for laboratory staff training, we were awarded CLASS, a project designed to build the institutional capacity of Nigerian indigenous organizations for laboratory development. We are also consortium members on the BRAINS project, a research capacity building project at the University Of Lagos College Of Medicine. In addition, APIN has built the capacity of over 40 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) across our project states by training and re-training CSO staff on various subjects in order to enhance their ability to provide comprehensive health services.
Our vibrant workforce is a mix of professionals with varied educational backgrounds and professional experiences in both health and non-health sectors. We leverage their extensive experience in direct project implementation and the provision of technical assistance for health service delivery.
Our technical assistance covers system and service delivery assessment, patient flow and laboratory workflow Redesign, development of work tools, job aids and standard operating procedures, and direct service provider mentorship. In addition, our years of experience positions us as thought leaders with expert knowledge about the public health landscape in Nigeria and Africa, and the requisite capacity to design public health interventions and approaches that respond to public health needs in a coordinated manner.
In the last 16 years, we have steadily built our capacity in logistics and supply chain management by consistently innovating, evaluating and strengthening visibility along the entire chain; and providing commodity logistics services to health facilities in Nigeria.
We work closely with relevant stakeholders to ensure that commodities are procured, warehoused, and distributed to last-mile facilities in line with national and international guidelines for the management of health commodities. In addition, we develop and deploy software and electronic tools that allow for seamless and efficient inventory management, data analysis, forecasting and projections, and reporting, thus ensuring that medical and laboratory consumables, reagents and commodities are readily available on hand at our supported facilities.
As part of our efforts to strengthen the capacity of indigenous stakeholders to implement comprehensive health services, APIN has developed and executed trainings and capacity building activities for staff of over 40 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the states where we operate. In addition, we have provided office equipment, IT infrastructure and relevant tools to aid the effectiveness of their work.
We believe that policies and programmatic decisions are only as good as the quality of available evidence to inform them. Our Monitoring, Evaluation and Research activities are therefore focused on building systems that make high-quality information available to diverse categories of users at all levels of the health care system.
We leverage our strong capacity in this area to strengthen both the demand and supply-side components of Strategic Information delivery. As a result, we are able to gather timely, accurate data from the field in large volumes and analyse them quickly and efficiently, to make data-driven decisions. In addition to routine M&E, we have a vibrant and productive in-house research infrastructure through which we collaborate with local and international Research and Academic institutions.
We are able to deploy our operational and research competencies for short and long term projects to help other organizations generate the evidence that they need for their programs. In the last 5 years, we have published over 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals and presented over 100 abstracts at national and international conferences. Some of our recent research endeavours include:
We are able to deploy our research and operations research competencies for short term projects to help other organizations generate the evidence they need for their work.