The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammed Ali Pate, has disclosed that as of October 2024, the Federal Government had successfully undertaken 879 obstetric fistula repairs across 19 centres in Nigeria.
The Minister while disclosing this at a press briefing in Abuja to mark 2024 Universal Health Coverage Day said, the government targets 2,500 before the end of the year.
Pate said, this has restored the quality of lives of women and their dignity, stressing this is the type of health system the Tinubu administration wishes to hand over to children and one that is resilient and provides for all, without regard to socio-economic standing.
According to Pate, “In the last year, 238 facilities have been upgraded to functional level 2, an additional 320 facilities are in the process of being upgraded, States have taken on 2,600 facilities and through the HOPE PHC incentivizing States to upgrade an additional 2000 facilities.”
“As a demonstration of Mr. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commitment to improving the health workforce, so far, we have retrained 53,000 FLWs, out of 120,000. We have also increased the capacity of health institutions to increase their quota so we can train more health workers.”
“As part of our commitment to crash maternal mortality, the government is not relenting in its effort to revitalize our PHC facilities. This ensures that there is equitable distribution of well-equipped functional PHCs that can deliver quality health care services.”
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“This will provide the enabling environment for the roll out of the Maternal Mortality Innovative Initiative (MAMII) project, which we launched during the Health Sector-Wide Joint Annual Review in November, and the commencement of free Cesarean Sections for women who need it across the country.”
“there is significant improvement in infectious diseases ranging from 40 percent reduction in diarrheal disease, 24 percent reduction in TB, 12% in HIV/AIDS and marginal increase in malaria burden.
“Nigerians are aware of our strides in battling well-known infectious diseases like Malaria, TB, and HIV/AIDS but are less aware of the significant strides made in the reduction of morbidity due to neglected tropical diseases that afflict poor populations and fester poverty.
” Over the years, the Government and partners have successfully interrupted the transmission of a number of NTDs, including Onchocerciasis, in 8 States. Over 29 million people formally on treatment no longer require annual administration. The government and its partners provided these medicines for free to the communities. This feat puts Nigeria as one of the countries on track to meet the 2030 global elimination target.
According to him seventeen Nigerian states (47% of total) have shown improved performance in the Modern Contraception Rate (mCPR). This has contributed to a 5% reduction in teenage pregnancy nationally between 2018 and 2024.
Prof.Pate stated that following the executive order signed by Mr. President Ahmed Tinubu we have stimulated local production of health products with about 40 business cases developed and over $1 billion of credit line facilitated through partnerships with AFREXIM and other partners.
He noted that Nigeria has improved its Joint External Evaluation (JEE) score for pandemics from 39% in 2017 to 54% in 2023.
“Today is a monumental day in Nigeria’s health sector as we mark one year of the Presidential unveiling of the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative (NHSRII) and the signing of the Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp) compact between the Federal government, 36 state governments and FCT, and the Development Partners.
Speaking on challenges he posited that this initiative was in response to the myriads of challenges facing the health sector including Financing is inadequate, inefficient and inequitable – countries with lesser spend and GDP have better outcomes than us, neediest communities are often the least served
Governance is poor, driven by hyper-fragmentation, dis-coordination across the different levels of government, various regulators and development partners.
“Data collection is not comprehensive or credible and not used for decision- making. Inefficiencies in development assistance, driven by lack of coordination and alignment in financing and technical assistance
“Improve population health outcomes through an efficient, equitable, and quality health system. And Unlocking the healthcare value chain – Mr. President made a commitment to Nigerians to build an economy that will improve livelihood and living standards.
On inflation he said ” We recognize the increasing cost of health care (services and drugs), and to provide succor to the population in the short term, under the PVAC, we are in the process of pool-procuring essential medicines to ensure quality, availability, and affordability of these drugs within our public facilities.
“In the medium and long term, the local manufacturing of pharmaceutical products and commodities will help reduce costs and ensure availability within the country. This contributes to UHC’s goal of reducing the financial burden of health services. Strengthen health security and resilience – In an interconnected world, with free movement between regions and countries, we need to strengthen our health security infrastructure and systems by strengthening the NCDC to respond appropriately to prevent, detect, and respond to health outbreaks/threats.
The Minister reiterated that the NCDC has a robust history of confronting outbreaks like Ebola, COVID-19, Lassa fever, cholera, etc. In response to the increasing threats of climate change on health, we recently launched the Health National Vulnerability and Adaptation Plan (HNVAP). The HNVAP lays out the country’s core priority actions over the coming years to address the consequences of climate change on health.
“Our Blueprint recognizes the role of data and digitization, the need to increase the efficiency and alignment of health spending and strengthen human resource capacities to drive performance to achieve the bold policy shifts outlined above.
Prof. Pate summoned that the latest National Health Account expenditure data by the FMoHSW and the National Bureau of Statistics estimate the total health expenditure per Nigerian at under $100. The government spends $15.5 per capita, and external development assistance accounts for $10.5 per capita. This means Nigerians spent over $70 per capita. There needs to be a radical shift in this distribution. We must transfer risks and financial burdens from individuals to governments and their implementation schemes.
To ensure effective and efficient use of the resources, we have adopted the sector-wide approach (SWAp) grounded in the following core principles to drive our vision and achieve our set goals: One Plan, One Budget, One report, One Conversation and One Voice. I am happy that all our state Governors have identified with our vision through the signing of the Compact
” As a government, we have mobilized and raised additional revenue for health. Mr. President has increased the allocation to the health sector, and development partners have committed additional external development assistance funds. As of today, We have mobilized >$3 bn of additional funding (3yrs) through NHSRII SWAp, including $2.178 billion confirmed external financing to be spent alongside government appropriation between 2024 and 2026 on the health of Nigerians. This will enable government and development partners to spend more while individual out-of-pocket expenditure is reduced.
He added that in terms of the perception of Nigerians, we have some good news to report More Nigerians (47%) endorsed the trajectory of the health system and 54percent are confident in the government’s capacity to effectively manage health emergencies; an increase of 17% when compared to the 2023 PVS.
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