17,600 primary health care facilities to be revitalized nationwide –  NPHCDA

The Executive Director/CEO of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Muyi Aina, has disclosed that about 17,600 primary health care facilities across the country are to be revitalized to ensure equitable and quality health services

Aina who stated this during NPHCDA’s quarterly media briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, noted that the revitalisation of the facilities remains central to the federal government’s health agenda that is meant to ensure that each Nigerian has equitable access to quality and affordable healthcare.

According to him, the revitalization process reflects a nationwide effort to improve service delivery at the grassroots level, with support from states, local governments, and development partners.

He said NPHCDA and the states have now completed 2125 additional facilities with about 1671 on track, adding that when added to the baseline of about 1800, the agency has started moving.

“We are expanding the reach of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund from 8,309 facilities to 17,600. Low-volume facilities will now receive 600,000 Naira per quarter, while higher-volume facilities will get 800,000 Naira per quarter. This two-tiered system ensures resources match facility needs,” the executive director revealed.

He said the federal government has directly equipped 500 PHC centres with solar power, staff residences, and essential medical commodities, while states and local governments are complementing the federal government’s efforts.

Dr. Aina who commended the federal government’s investment to reduce newborn, child and maternal mortality, praised President Bola A. Tinubu for releasing N68 billion for the co-financing of Nigeria’s vaccine procurement.

Other initiatives of the federal government according to him include the direct funding to primary healthcare facilities, improved availability of essential commodities, and recruitment of more community health workers.

He noted that NPHCDA is moving outside commodity-based interventions to include broader non-commodity approaches, which he said is aimed at strengthening primary healthcare delivery nationwide.

The executive director informed further that all this efforts by the federal government are meant to stop the leading causes of maternal, newborn, and child deaths.

He also revealed that the agency has improved of the ways frontline health workers are being engaged, stressing that such workers are now being deployed to identify pregnant women as well as children at home and link them to healthcare centres, ensuring timely access to skilled care.

“Everything we are doing is geared towards the top causes of maternal death and the top causes of newborn and child deaths, and to reduce the deaths,” he explained.

While speaking on immunisation, the executive director stated that over 3.4 million received polio vaccines, and the measles-rubella campaign achieved 92 per cent coverage across 21 states.

He said the massive campaign targeted 100.6 million Nigerians who were less than 14 years in 19 states with the FCT and Oyo State.

Earlier in her address, NPHCDA’s Director of Community Health Services, Dr. Nana Abubakar, said the Maternal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII), launched by the Federal Government in 2024 is being  implemented in a coordinated manner across 172 local government area in the country to improve maternal, newborn, and child health services and reduce deaths.

 “MAMII’s interventions are comprehensive and multifaceted. They are designed to address the delays that account for maternal and newborn deaths in the country,” she stressed.

Earlier in his speech, NPHCDA’s Director of Disease and Communication, Dr Rufai Ahmed, disclosed that from July last year to October, the country had reached over 500,000 zero-dose children.

He said NPHCDA developed an operational plan to reduce this number by 30% every year and is tracking every child through house-to-house enumeration and vaccination.