As part of efforts to ensure that Nigerians enjoy minimum health care services in terms of availability, affordability and accessibility, the Federal Government, in collaboration with the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), the World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), and other development partners is to revitalise and upgrade the services in about 10,000 primary health care (PHC) centres across the country.
It noted that the target is to ensure that there is one functional primary health care centre per political ward across the country.
At a briefing in Abuja on the upcoming Primary Health Care Summit on March 24 and 25 this year, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, explained that the Summit will seek to galvanise domestic funding for PHCs revitalisation and secure the commitment of governments at the national and sub-national levels, and other relevant stakeholders in the health sector.
He said: “I am delighted to welcome you all to this gathering and to launch this bold initiative to draw the attention of governments at national and sub-national levels and the attention of our development partners, donors, non-governmental organisations, civil society and my fellow Nigerians to the revitalisation of our primary health care system to meet the health needs of the ordinary citizen.
“We have about 30,000 structures to go as primary healthcare centres because it has been the favourite constituency programme of many lawmakers. But most of them are not functional. We are starting with 10,000 primary healthcare centres, one on every ward. We can expand later on beyond that.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib said: “This transformative programme is focused on primary health care, because it is the backbone of our entire health system. The problems a lack of primary health care causes are staggering – they dwarf the impact of COVID-19 on Nigeria’s population. 128 of every 1,000 children under 5 in Nigeria die and 20 per cent of global maternal deaths happen in Nigeria. It’s heartbreaking, and we must treat it as the emergency it is.
The Chairman of the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation and past CEO of Access Bank, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, added: “The PHC system in Nigeria is very weak which is supposed to be our first line of defence. Every nation must make sure that the first line of defence is very strong. We embrace the move by the Government to use the PHC summit to relaunch Nigeria’s first line of defence. Great things happen when the government partners with the private sector.
“We need to upgrade the PHC centres. We must address the 30,000 PHCs and add new ones.”
On behalf of development partners, the Country Representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Walter Mulombo said: “Health must be accessible, equitable, safe, among others.”