Elucidating the Strengths and Weaknesses of the National Health Fellowship Programme in Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State

National Health Fellowship programme is specially designed by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to reform health sector through proactive technical training and self-motivating mentorship. This study elucidated the strengths and weaknesses of the programme in Onicha local government area of Ebonyi state using the capstone projects as Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and the lopsidedness of the government as the weaknesses. Three projects were initiated and completed within the period of June to December 2025. They were public health awareness on diseases associated with old age and management, mental health, open defecation and personal hygiene, and overall quality improvement of some primary health centres. During the capstone projects, a total of 400 people, 200 women and schoolchildren respectively were engaged and used to measure the impact of the awareness. Data were collected with well-structured questionnaire. 12 primary health centres were marked, of which 9 were selected and provided with advisory aid for resuscitation and quality improvement. All data collected were entered into Microsoft Excel and presented in Tables. The mean age of women and schoolchildren were 41 years 6 months and 13 years 4 months respectively, their highest age brackets were within 41-50 years (29.5 %) and 15-17 years (29.5%), majority of the women were farmers (50%) having secondary education as their highest educational attainment (40.5%). Most of the schoolchildren were female (60%), most in junior class (52%) (senior = 48%), 40.5% liked footballing and kept friends. Before sensitization, 64% women were not aware of old age diseases & the management, 84.5% schoolchildren were also not aware of mental health and open defecation but had knowledge of personal hygiene to an extent. 4 health posts were covered by weeds without activities but were revived; durable, rechargeable and bright solar lights were given to 3 health facilities; dilapidated sucker-away pit was reconstructed and refuse dump was abated in one facility respectively while others received facility improvement processes. Lack of defined work-plan for the fellows, inadequate communication with the local government health authority by the federal government and lack of mobility aids were the weaknesses. In conclusion, the programme is impactful and will remain one of the veritable tools to achieve universal health coverage. Specifying the roles of the fellows and informing of the LG authorities are highly recommended for easier workflow.