Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo today opened the third edition of the THISDAY Healthcare Policy
Dialogue holding at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Conference Centre in Abuja
by 10am.....
The high powered summit will bring under
one roof healthcare stakeholders, development partners and policy
makers to chat a way forward for the provision of basic healthcare to
all states of the federation, and will also focus on honouring states
that have distinguished themselves in the provision of healthcare to
their people.
Other dignitaries expected to headline
the summit are the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole; Minister of
FCT, Alhaji Mohammed Bello; Zamfara State Governor, Alhaji Yari
Abubakar; Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Senator Lanre Tejuoso;
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode; Kano State Governor, Alhaji
Umar Ganduje; Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa; Anambra State
Governor, Mr. Willie Obiano; Adamawa State Governor, Mr. Jibrilla
Bindow; Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade; and Founder, Flying
Doctors Nigeria, Dr. Ola Orekunrin.
Others are Minister of State for Health,
Dr. Osagie Ehanire; Country Head, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
Ms. Paulin Basinga; Chief Health, Nutrition and Population, World Bank
Nigeria, Mr. Benjamin Loevinsohn; UNICEF Country Director, Mr. Mohammed
Fall; Senior Health Advisory, Nigeria Governors Forum, Mr. Abdulwahab
Ahmad; and Programme Manager, Saving One Million Lives, Alhaji Ibrahim
Kana, among others.
This is following the previous two
policy dialogues, which focused on Healthcare Financing and Universal
Health Coverage (UHC) in March and April 2018 respectively.
Both earlier endeavors yielded a number
of successes, including for the first time, the earmarking of N57.15
billion in the 2018 national budget for the Basic Health Care Provision
Fund (BHCPF) by the National Assembly.
This third edition, themed: ‘Funding
Healthcare for All; Why States Matter,’ with a sub-theme, ‘Emergency
Medicine: Need for Action,’ will honor eight states using federal
government’s Saving One Million Lives Programme Performance Index as a
major tool in determining star states that have delivered healthcare to
their people.
States to be honored using the SOML
Performance Index are Zamfara, Lagos, Cross River, Delta, Anambra,
Adamawa, Kano State and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The SOML is an establishment of the
federal government which aids to support states in the improvement of
health outcomes in their various states. Its key service areas are:
provision of quality healthcare in primary health facilities,
vaccination coverage among children; contraceptive prevalence rate;
skilled birth attendance; HIV counseling/testing among women attending
antenatal care; and use of insecticide treated nets by children under
five, among others.
Under the programme, the federal government, in 2017 gave $1.5 million to each of the 36 states.
According to THISDAY Board of Directors,
the high performing states were selected using a set of verifiable and
objective indicators provided by THISDAY Newspapers Healthcare Dialogue
Team and the SOML initiative programme, adding that state governments
who are responsible for most of the service delivery should be held
accountable for their performances.
The board said the poor health outcomes
recorded in Nigeria, are chiefly because priority has not been given to
the basic healthcare needs of Nigerians, noting that for any country to
effectively achieve UHC, all levels of government must be involved.
“States and local governments are very
critical to achieving UHC, but only few states have charged ahead with
increased budgetary allocation of financing to primary healthcare and
expansion of coverage of essential priority interventions.
Most states
in Nigeria are yet to put in place the required accountability and
governance framework required to change the tide for improved health
outcomes. However, some states have differentiated themselves and are
making efforts towards a better healthcare.”
THISDAY said it is for this reason it is
focusing on high performing states, as part of efforts to encourage and
stare others to making healthcare a priority.
Meanwhile, Prof. Adewole has described
THISDAY as a star in repositioning healthcare in Nigeria following its
interest for a better healthcare for the country.
He said the dialogue will help emphasize the role of states as primary healthcare providers for the over 180 million Nigerians.
In a chat with THISDAY recently, he said
while the federal government has given a fixed grant of $1.5 million to
each state under the SOML last year, he believed this summit will
provide a platform for accessing what has been done with the fund, and
help in comparing states for a healthy competition.
“We intend to give the states more money
for healthcare interventions, but accessing what they have done with
the one already given is important. States are very key to addressing
healthcare in the country, but many states have been relaxed, thinking
the federal will take care of their problems.
“I think the issue started when there
was so much ‘money’ around. At that time, the federal government created
an impression that they could do it alone, so states relaxed thinking
the federal will take care of the problem. But to me, it does not
represent the reality on ground. Federal does not have the human and
financial resources, so it is time states play active role.
The people
in the states are primarily indigenes of that state before they are
indigenes of Nigeria.”
He said this era of cooperation will
help in strengthening healthcare, and will make states viable partners
in healthcare delivery in the country.
The minister, who likened the federal
government to the roof of a house, said the states are like the walls of
a building, while the local government is the foundation.
“So we will
be deceiving ourselves if we put a golden roof up without good
foundation and good walls. We must strengthen all levels of healthcare,
and this dialogue is a step on the right direction to achieving that,”
he said.
The summit is co-organized with the
Federal Ministry of Health, World Bank, Arise TV (a THISDAY sister
station) Flying Doctors and UNICEF, among others.
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