Dr. Emmanuella Zamba: Celebrating a Quintessential and Passionate Public Health Specialist
The age long belief that women work harder to earn promotions than men was substantiated by Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO in her book, Lean In.
Sandberg explained that most men would apply for positions when they met just 60 percent of the requirements, while women would only apply if they met 100 percent of them.
This reality is the reason CSR Reporters deemed it fit to celebrate a woman of substance, a woman who has lived up to her morals and values, a woman who is knowledgeable about subjects of interest to others and a woman who towers high above her contemporaries.
A woman who is skilled in strategy, policy and planning, programme evaluation, public speaking, a Universal Health Coverage (UHC) advocate and an alumni of the University of Lagos and Harvard Business School.
That woman is Dr. Emmanuella Zamba, a medical doctor, seasoned technocrat, public health specialist and the current General Manager, Lagos State Health Management Agency (LASHMA).
Zamba was said to have joined the Lagos State public service in 2005. Prior to her current position as the General Manager she has held highly merited strategic positions in various units and parastatals in the Lagos State health ministry.
She’s been the state health sector investment officer; coordinator, Lagos State health sector quality control programme; director, Lagos State Ministry of Health Service Delivery; coordinator, Lagos State health sector service charter cascade initiative; state human resource health desk officer; state health financing officer. And prior to her current appointment, she was the director, Healthcare Planning Research and Statistics. She was the Ministry of Health Representative for the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).
Others include being the training officer for both the Lagos State Ministry of Health and Health Systems Development Programme II for the World Bank and African Development Bank.
As the head of the Strategic Healthcare Planning Division in the health ministry, she played a pivotal role in the design of the State’s Social Health Insurance Scheme which was then under her agency.
She is passionate about promoting the welfare of others through giving to the less privileged and the needy. She also provides guidance, motivation, emotional/financial support to the younger generation around her. She is committed to being a positive role model to many with her willingness to share her skills, knowledge and expertise.
On her current appointment, the Head of Service of the Lagos State Civil Service, Hakeem Muri-Okunola highlighted that her confirmation as the substantive General Manager from an acting capacity was in recognition of her hard work and achievement since assuming the leadership of the agency; adding that her record of selfless service and impressive performance, adding that her past experience stands her in good stead in the Lagos State Health Scheme.
As urged by the State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, that she should continue to raise the bar, immediately after her appointment, she set out to enroll three million (3,000,000) residents in the Lagos State Health Insurance Scheme. Prior to her appointment, there were only 527,000 registered residents out of the over twenty million residents in the state.
She is currently on a vigorous grassroots outreach programme of the Ilera Eko in the 20 local government areas in the state.
As part of LASHMA COVID 19 response under her leadership, the agency designed the EKO TELEMED project to increase access to healthcare services and reduce the challenges of going to the hospitals during the period of restricted movements, except for emergencies.
During the launch of EKO TELEMED project, she said: “It would create an entry point for the quicker evacuation of confirmed and severely ill COVID-19 cases to the designated treatment facility.
“It is aimed at ensuring better health outcomes for affected citizens, and reducing morbidity and mortality associated with the pandemic.
“Through the project, residents would have access to highly-trained and experienced physicians for non-emergency primary care consultation through voice or video call that are toll-free.”
LASHMA under her, designed the project in such a way that residents could converse with doctors in any of the four major languages in the state which include English, Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo. And doctors and case managers were kept on duty for 24 hours a day and seven days a week during the lockdown.
The project which set out to digitalise the Lagos State Healthcare delivery system was so plausible that the Commissioner for Health commended Zamba and her team for their various innovations in making health insurance widely accepted in the state.
On her part, the LASHMA General Manager also listed some of the benefits of the EKOTELEMED App as follows: cost-effectiveness, ease of enrollment, easy access to policy information and payments as well as guaranteed cash rewards on policies purchased.
“It is unfortunate that over 70 percent of Nigerians pay out of pocket for their health needs. Out of pocket payment is no longer feasible in accessing healthcare services.
“The overall goal of the Lagos State Health Scheme is to ensure that all residents of Lagos have unhindered access to quality health care services in an efficient, sustainable, and equitable manner and this is why it is made mandatory for all residents, all employees in the public and private sectors, including the self-employed and the unemployed. Out-of-pocket payment is no longer feasible in accessing quality health care.
“We have now moved the Eko Telemedicine forward, instead of having to go to the hospital every time you just simply call. It is a toll-free line, and speak to your doctor.”
