Martins Ifijeh
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo will Friday declare open 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 endeavours 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 honour 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 honoured 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 counselling/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 emphasise 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-organised with the Federal Ministry of Health, World Bank, Arise TV (a THISDAY sister station) Flying Doctors and UNICEF, among others.