Doosuur Iwambe, Abuja
As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark the World Health Day, youth leaders and civil society groups from across Nigeria have urged all tiers of government to improve budgetary allocations and timely release of funds for health interventions.
Particularly, the stakeholders emphasized the need to prioritize family planning, nutrition, primary healthcare – including the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund and national health insurance for universal health coverage.
In a statement made available to the Daily Times, the Executive Director of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health, PMNCH Helga Fogstad, noted that the 2021 WHD celebration was important as the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to threaten the improvement in health and social services.
According to Fogstad, the theme for this year’s World Health Day, “Building a Fairer, Healthier World,” was apt hence, it reminds us of the need to invest in equity enhancing strategies to address the needs of the most vulnerable.
“COVID-19 has exacerbated inequities, putting at risk hard won gains that have been made over the past decade.
“Ensuring that women, children and adolescents are protected from the disproportionate indirect social and economic of the pandemic and associated financial crisis, action from all stakeholders will be required,” Fogstad stated.
On his part, Hon. Muhammad Usman, Chair of the National Advocates for Health (NA4H), stressed the need for improve budgetary allocations and timely release of funds for health interventions.
“I am therefore calling on both federal and state governments to improve budgetary allocations and timely release of funds for health interventions, particularly for family planning, nutrition, primary healthcare – including the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund – and the national health insurance for universal health coverage’’.
Nigeria is among 10 countries around the world that recently heeded the call; making major commitments to prioritize investments for the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents.
The West African nation has pledged $2.3 billion between 2020-2028 for strategic interventions that protect the reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, adolescent and elderly health and nutrition through access to family planning services; immunization; and nutrition programmes.
Today youth leaders, campaigners and representatives of civil society organizations from across Nigeria are meeting to deliberate on the progress of improving the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents in Africa’s most populous nation.
The convener of the Nigerian Youth Champions for Universal Health Coverage, NYC4UHC Oyeyemi Pitan who disclosed that young people account for over 60% of Nigeria’s population, emphasized the need to invest in the health of young people by ensuring that all primary healthcare centres are adequately staffed
“Therefore, the government, both at the federal and state levels, must invest in the health of young people by ensuring that all primary healthcare centres are adequately staffed, equipped and functional to provide access to sexual and reproductive health services, mental health services and essential life-saving drugs and commodities,” Pitan said.
In 2020, PMNCH issued a 7-point Call to Action in response to the devastating effects of COVID-19 on the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents.
It called on leaders to protect and prioritize their rights and health during the COVID-19 response and recovery by strengthening political commitment, policies and financing for vital health services and social protections, particularly for the most vulnerable. For adolescents, it compliments the PMNCH-led worldwide Call to Action on Adolescent Wellbeing.
However, experts say a lot still needs to be done in stopping preventable deaths of women, girls and children.
Recent data from the World Health Organization (WHO) from 105 countries showed that 90 percent of countries have experienced disruptions to health services, with low and middle-income countries reporting the greatest difficulties.
Some of the most frequently disrupted services include those related to: immunization services (facility-based services: 61 percent and outreach facilities: 70 percent) and family planning and contraception services: 68 percent.
The WHO added that about 20 per cent of all global maternal deaths occurred in Nigeria, with over 600,000 maternal deaths and about 900,000 maternal near-miss cases between 2005 and 2015 respectively.
The global health body added that a woman in Nigeria has a 1-in-22 lifetime risk of dying during pregnancy, childbirth or postpartum/post-abortion compared with the lifetime risk of 1 in 4900 in the most developed countries.
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