CALABAR -The Health Promotion Unit of the Cross River State Ministry of Health, in collaboration with Nigerian Health Watch, has held a Co-Creation Workshop to review community listening data and develop evidence-informed health promotion messages.
The workshop demonstrated the value of community-generated evidence, multi-sectoral collaboration and co-creation in strengthening health promotion and risk communication.
It further provides a platform for the Cross River State Ministry of Health and its partners to develop health promotion interventions that are informed by what communities know, believe, experience and identify as barriers to accessing and using health services.
Dr. Solomon Oladimeji, Senior Manager, Monitoring and Evaluation, Nigeria Health Watch, in his presentation , disclosed that the community listening exercise was conducted between 14 July and 4 August 2026 across six local government areas;Obubra, Abi, Boki, Calabar South, Calabar Municipality and Ogoja with findings reflecting perceptions from 1,043 respondents.
They represent one-third of the 18 local government areas in Cross River State , covering the state’s three senatorial districts with Local Government Health Promotion Officers in the six local government areas collecting the data with support from Nigerian Health Watch.
He said that the exercise examined community perspectives across seven thematic areas: maternal health, primary healthcare use and emergency care; routine immunisation; Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination.
Others, included sexual and reproductive health; nutrition; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH); and health insurance and financial protection.
Speaking to welcome participants at the workshop, both the State Health Promotion Officer, Mrs Catherine Ukpepi and the State Social mobilization Officer,Mrs Nsa Ekpenyong representing the management of the State Ministry of Health, appreciated the Nigeria Health Watch for choosing Cross River State as their implementing state.
They were grateful to the laudable initiative of the Nigeria Health Watch and pledged their unalloyed support to ensure the state and LGA social mobilization offficers utilize the partnership for a positive results.