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Tag: Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate

  • Malaria fight: Pate knocks Africa for outsourcing burden

    Malaria fight: Pate knocks Africa for outsourcing burden

    • Minister calls for local ownership

    • Sanwo-Olu promises to push malaria prevalence below 1%

    The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, has faulted Africa for “outsourcing” the fight against malaria to foreign actors.

    He said the practice has remained prevalent, despite the continent carrying the heaviest share of the global burden.

    The minister warned that unless African countries took greater responsibility, financially and politically, the goal of eliminating malaria by 2030 would remain out of reach.

    Pate suggested that the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership consider relocating its headquarters to Africa, given the continent’s disproportionate share of the burden.

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    “Africa carries 90 per cent of global malaria cases. Why should the headquarters be elsewhere?” he queried

    The minister spoke at the two-day Big Push Malaria Conference in Abuja, with the theme: Harnessing Africa’s Central Role for the Big Push Against Malaria. The conference was hosted by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in collaboration with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM), the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA), and with the support of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

    Pate said 90 per cent of global malaria cases occur in Africa, with Nigeria being among the hardest hit.

    Despite this reality, the minister said the continent still relies heavily on donor funding rather than driving its solutions.

    “Have we owned it sufficiently? And if we have, have we applied our resources, our collective efforts, in a way that solves it in our domestic context? Or are we still waiting for solutions from Geneva and other places?” he asked.

    Acknowledging the billions of dollars invested by partners, such as the Global Fund, the Gates Foundation, and bilateral donors, the minister insisted that African countries must internalise malaria as a homegrown problem.

    The minister expressed disappointment at the low uptake of the malaria vaccine in pilot states of Bayelsa and Kebbi.

    He said the Federal Government was engaging relevant authorities to improve enlightenment and acceptance, stressing that vaccines would remain an important part of Nigeria’s malaria strategy.

    Also, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has promised to drive malaria prevalence in the state below one per cent.

    The governor said the state was moving closer to eliminating the disease that has plagued millions of Nigerians for decades.

    Sanwo-Olu spoke yesterday at the Mid-Term Review of the Lagos Malaria Pre-Elimination Pathway at Eko Hotels on Victoria Island.

    He said: “When we kicked off this initiative on March 4, we had a clear vision: to transform hope into measurable results and shift Lagos from a high-burden malaria zone to one on the brink of elimination. Today’s review is more than a formality; it is a critical checkpoint in our journey to a malaria-free Lagos.”

    The governor announced that the state’s digital reporting system, already operational across public and private health facilities, has bridged information gaps, improved diagnostic accuracy, and integrated community pharmacies and patent medicine vendors into malaria control.

  • Nigeria must take ownership of health funding, says Minister

    Nigeria must take ownership of health funding, says Minister

    The coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, has emphasised the urgency for Nigeria to strengthen its health sovereignty and reduce dependence on donor funding.

    Pointing to the decline in global health funding interventions, the Minister said Nigeria’s health sector is currently financed predominantly from domestic sources, with external funding accounting for less than 10 percent of total expenditure, underscoring the need for the country to take full ownership of its health financing.

    Pate spoke in Abuja on Monday at the generative workshop, organised by the National Technical Working Group on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, where he explained that health accounts data from 2005, noting that 90% of Nigeria’s health spending is domestic with one-third from public funding and two-thirds from private out-of-pocket expenses.

    This, he said, reflects the need to boost public investment while lessening the burden on households.

    The workshop, themed ‘Designing a Transition Pathway to Self-Reliance in Financing Essential Health Services in Nigeria’, convened national and sub-national leaders, development partners, civil society, and technical experts to develop strategies for sustaining essential health services during the 2025–2028 transition period.

    Pate stressed that the federal government has already increased allocations to health and released funds for essential commodities.

    However, he called on State governments to match this commitment by directing more resources towards HIV, TB, malaria, family planning, and reproductive health services.

    “The federal government has done its part, but with increased revenues flowing to the States, we expect them to contribute significantly to programmatic costs and commodities.

    “Nigeria cannot build a healthy nation on the back of other people’s money.”

    The Minister highlighted the growing risks of over-reliance on donors, pointing to recent suspensions and reductions in foreign assistance.

    He argued that the current global health financing model is unsustainable and vulnerable to shifts in international priorities, saying, “We must reinforce sustainable, country-led systems, strengthen local institutions, and take full program ownership”.

    One key aspect of this shift, Pate noted, is fostering domestic pharmaceutical production, urging development partners to use Nigeria’s national systems rather than parallel structures and to patronise local manufacturers.

    “We must develop the muscle to produce what we need. Buying local strengthens our capacity and safeguards against supply disruptions,” he added.

    Pate also emphasised the importance of governance reforms to ensure better coordination and accountability in the health sector, which he said includes integrating services across disease areas, leveraging existing institutional frameworks, and improving efficiency in resource use.

    On concerns that the workshop’s recommendations might be ignored, Pate reassured participants that recommendations from the technical working group have already informed budget appropriations and are guiding real-time sector-wide reforms.

    He, however, reaffirmed the Federal government’s commitment to building a resilient health system, noting, even with limited resources, Nigeria’s political will is at the highest level to meet the health needs of its citizens.”

    The Global Fund commended stakeholders for their collaboration in advancing its objectives, despite ongoing uncertainties in global funding.

    In a virtual goodwill message to the workshop, the Fund’s representative noted that principal recipients, sub-recipients, technical partners, multilateral agencies, and government bodies had worked together effectively during the recent review process.

    The Fund noted that a clear and shared vision for integration had emerged for the next 18 months of the current grant cycle, driven by the leadership of the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) and the coordinated efforts of implementing partners.

    The Fund reaffirmed its commitment to supporting partners and ensuring that grant priorities are delivered as planned.

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    Earlier, the Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Dr. Temitope Ilori, explained the purpose of the gathering, noting that it was designed to enable Nigeria to take the driver’s seat in health sector financing by leveraging existing government structures and mobilising domestic resources to guide policies on maternal and child health, reproductive health and other related programmes.

    “Though we are a middle-income country, we have the political will. The administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is listening, responsive, and has already facilitated resources to ensure there are no gaps.

    “The President has shown strong political will in ensuring Nigeria takes the lead, and we are encouraging State governments to complement the Federal effort,” Ilori stressed

    Echoing the call for national ownership of health sector financing, Ilori said, “We must invest more of our own resources to protect the health of our people”.