NSHIP Project: Over 30million Nigerians now have access to quality health services – FG
Doosuur Iwambe, Abuja
At least 30 million Nigerians including women and children across the 113 local government areas in the country are currently accessing quality healthcare services through the Nigeria State Health Investment Project, NSHIP, the executive director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib has said.
Dr Shuaib who was speaking during a welcome address at a -two-day workshop of the NSHIP Project closure with stakeholders in Abuja on Wednesday explained that the NSHIP project, an initiative of the federal government was launched in 2011 to revitalize at least one functional Primary Health Care facility per ward across the country.
While stressing that the project has covered about 2,000 health facilities across the 113 LGAs in the eight States, the Director who was represented by Dr Nneka Owu, Director Community health services noted that the PHC in Adamawa, Nasarawa, Ondo, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe have experienced total transformation with functional and improved quality service delivery.
While lamenting that health outcomes have remained suboptimal in Nigeria despite many years of relatively increasing investments, he said that the success of NSHIP implementation has brought about significant policy strengthening and changes in Nigeria especially as regards strengthening PHC system.
He further disclosed that the federal government committed $171.5million while an additional grant of $145million was also obtained from World Bank for the project.
‘’The initial tremendous results shown in the pre-pilot LGAs informed the government’s commitment of USD 171.5 million and USD 145 million (credit/grant from the World Bank) for the scaled up of result-based financing (RBF) to the remaining 49 LGAs across the three Adamawa, Nasarawa and Ondo States as well as extension to 64 LGAs in the remaining five North East States of Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe.
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‘’This was to rapidly rehabilitate and re-establish health care service delivery as a result of the devastating effect of the insurgency in the area.
‘’The implementation of NSHIP was also in line with Federal Government’s Primary Health Care (PHC) revitalization agenda and the initiative of the provision of, at least, one functional PHC per ward across the country in order to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC) under the President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda for the health sector.
‘’The implementation of NSHIP brought about the paradigm shift from the traditional input-based financing, fragmented and unclear accountability, top-bottom investment approach, no verification and centralized medicine supply to the result-based financing with well-defined and monitored performance indicators, accountability, bottom-up investment decisions, rigorous verification and decentralized medicine and health commodities supply within the PHC landscape. The result has been however unprecedented especially as relate to the achievement of the Agency’s mandates’’, Dr Shuaib said.
He urged stakeholders to use the best practices and lessons learnt from the project for the implementation of subsequent projects and programmes in order to sustain the gains achieved.
Representatives of the World Health Organisation, World Bank, Ministry of finance in their goodwill messages commended the federal government for initiating the project.
They added that the only way to attain UHC is to reach out to those in remote areas adding that the NSHIP project was the right step in the right direction.
