Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara on Friday said he was pleased to hear that the Kwara Community Health Insurance Scheme (KWCHIS) had again received international endorsement. This was contained in a statement issued on Friday in Ilorin by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Dr Muyideen Akorede.

The KWCHIS on Thursday won the 2016 Financial Times/IFC Transformational Business Award. Akorede said KWCHIS beat GSK UK, Etisalat UAE, Living Goods USA and Sustainable Health USA to win the "Achievement in Sustainable Development: Maternal and Infant Health Category " of the award.

According to him, the event was held at the Hilton Hotel, Bankside, in London and had in attendance the Director General of the Kwara State Hospital Management Board, Mrs. Bunmi Jetawo Winter, and the Executive Secretary of KWCHIS, Alhaji Abdulrazaq Abdulsalam. He said the health programme was selected for the prestigious business award after a rigorous review of different programmes from across the world that had had transformational impact.

Akorede said the Financial Times award was a remarkable testimony of the impact of the health scheme on the people of Kwara. He also said the award was a motivation for the efforts of the state government toward finding a long-term financing solution for the programme. The governor noted that the recognition had added impetus to the state government's efforts in expanding rural access to affordable healthcare delivery. He stressed that his government would continue to prioritise the wellbeing of the people by initiating policies and programmes that would increase efficiency and effectiveness in the healthcare system of the state.

The governor thanked the state's partners in the scheme– the Dutch Government, PharmAccess Foundation and Hygeia Community Health– for supporting the scheme since it was launched. NAN recalls that the scheme allows beneficiaries to have access to quality health care all year round for a token of N500. Ahmed recalled that the health insurance scheme in 2014 in Paris won the finalist prize at the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee awards for development initiative. The governor said the scheme had also received commendation from the United Nations and Bill Gates Foundation for its creative approach to pro-poor health care.