Guardian

ONE vital sector that President Goodluck Jonathan seeks to turn around, as part of his transformation agenda for Nigeria is the Health Sector. From day one in the life of the President’s administration, he has   shown consistent interest in issues of health, part of which is his inclusion of the Minister of Health as a member of his Economic Team.

This clearly shows the seriousness Mr. President accords to this sector. Added to this was the President’s clear mandate to the Ministry of Health to drive the health sector in an efficient manner to achieve the country’s Vision 20:2020 Health plan and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The central goal of this repositioning by   Mr. President in the health sector is to provide high-end medical services in many instances and ensure health care delivery to the citizens of the country. The journey towards achieving this success has not been easy. One of the bottlenecks on the way of progress has been the long awaited passage of the National Health Bill, which recently passed second reading in the two Houses of the National Assembly. There is no doubt that the Bill when passed and properly implemented will improve quality health care services in Nigeria, especially at the primary level. Other challenges in summary could be said to be both geographical and financial but suffice it to say that substantial progress has been recorded in the nation’s health sector, which has actually positioned the sector for greater success and improved efficiency.

This progress however could not have come without a coordinated and result oriented efforts by the presidency and the Federal Ministry of Health officials. There is no denying the fact that Nigeria is on the positive direction towards meeting the health-related MDGs by 2015. With the exception of a few and occasional strikes in the health sector which were more of administrative or union influenced demands, there has been relative peace, team spirit and a harmonious relationship amongst stakeholders in the health sector. This feat cannot be ignored, as peaceful and harmonious relationships are sine qua non for the sector to achieve the president’s broad mandate within the shortest possible time, and greatest impact in the sector.

Perhaps one of the visible signs of progress in the health sector is the approval of the National Strategic Health Plan (NSHPD) by the Federal Executive Council of Nigeria and the signing of the International Health Partnership Plus (IHP+) compact, which have helped to secure partners commitment to the implementation of the plan. The NSHDP is the vehicle for actions at all levels of health care delivery system which seeks to foster the achievement of the health-related Millennium Development Goals and other local and international targets and declaration commitments in health.

There is also the up-scaling of the Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) through the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P), with 4,000 midwives deployed to 1,000 health centres across the country. Interestingly, this Midwives Service Scheme just last October won the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM) award on innovations in government services and programmes at the CAPAM meeting in India. Nigeria beat Australia and Canada to clinch this award.

The government has also established one new advanced sickle cell and mass cancer screening centres in each of the six geo-political zones of the country.  These centres have greatly impacted on the lives of the citizens as many of them have taken advantage of the services being provided by them. There is equally the establishment of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), which has been admitted into the membership of the International Association of National Public Health Institute (IANPH), a member organisation of government agencies working to improve national disease prevention and response.

On polio eradication, government has doubled the funding of polio eradication activities to N4.7 billion. Similarly, a presidential Task Force on Polio Eradication under the chairmanship of the Minister of State for Health has been in place while a new polio eradication emergency plan has been developed with an accountability framework. State governors and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory in the last two years have shown commitment to the eradication of the disease by actively leading the quarterly Supplementary Immunization Days (SIDs) in their respective states.

Another new concept brought to bear in the health sector is the Saving One Million Lives initiative, which is an ambitious and comprehensive initiative to scale up access to essential primary health services and commodities for Nigeria’s women and children. It is hoped that through this initiative, the government of Nigeria will save about one million lives by 2015. This effort received widespread commendation from the African Ministers of Health during the 62nd session of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa meeting in Luanda, Angola.

There was prompt intervention by the government through a multi-sect oral approach to the flood, which ravaged some states last year. For instance, President Jonathan specifically approved N2.5 billion for the Federal Ministry of Health to help in providing health interventions to the flood victims. Speaking further on government efforts in this direction, the Minister of Health, Professor Chukwu revealed that the task force set up by the government on flood disaster was given specific mandate on how to detect, control and prevent this scourge in the future.

Just in February this year, the Minister of Health presented to the public a new International Certificate of Vaccination and Prophylaxis, also called the yellow card with an enhanced security features. Unlike before when all levels of government were issuing yellow cards, only the Federal Ministry of Health is issuing the new one in all states and ports. This obviously put to end the issue of fake “yellow cards” issued from multiple sources and the embarrassment it has caused Nigeria all over the world. It is indeed another great milestone for the health sector.

It therefore, goes to say that the transformation agenda of the President in the health sector is yielding fruits and very fast too. What is required now is practical, honest and consistent efforts as well as the mobilisation of human and capital resources to re position the sector.

In this regard, government, all relevant stakeholders and the general public should demonstrate faith and commitment to the new initiatives taking place in Nigeria’s health sector to improve the safety and health conditions of Nigerians.

• Musa writes from the Healthy Living Foundation, Abuja.