By Hassan Zaggi
The Ministry of Health has been advised to introduce the publishing of annual performance reports of the activities of the ministry to enable stakeholders and entire Nigerians know what the ministry is doing.
This will enable stakeholders and other partners to know where and how to support the ministry where there is gap.
The Coordinator of the Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN), Dr. Aminu Magashi, gave the advice while responding to questions from Journalists at a one-day strategic retreat with NGOs, Young people and the media on the review and validation of Nigerian Reproductive, Maternal Newborn, Child, Adolescent and Elderly Health Plus Nutrition (RMNCAEH+N), in Abuja, yesterday.
He applauded the current leadership of the Federal Ministry of Health for being transparent by organizing regular briefings with journalists to update Nigerians on the activities of the health sector, noting that it has provided opportunity for feedback by Nigerians.
While calling on the health ministry to do more, Dr. Magashi, however, said: “I think there is transparency but we still need to do more.
“More documents from the government annual reports and performance need to be published. Remember, the National Health Act which is signed by thegovernment empowers the minister to give a yearly account of what the health sector has done through publications of annual reports. That is not happening.
“So we are calling on the minister using the power of the National Health Act to introduce the publishing of annual performance where everybody will know what the government is doing.
“The local vaccine production, health sector reform, what it is doing in tertiary hospitals, etc. We need to ensure that emergency points on our roads are functional so that if any accident occur, a vehicle or ambulance will be readily available to convey victims to a facility and when the person get there, they will be treated.”
Responding to a question on Family Planning, Dr. Magashi lamented that: “The absence of Family Planning services is a big challenge.
“The federal government plans to increase the contraceptive prevalence rate to about 27 percent in the next few years.
“Currently, what we have is about 11 to 12 percent. So, you know its a long journey. If FP commodities are not available in Nigeria, it will be difficult to control Contraceptive Prevalence Rate. Therefore, there is need to do more.
“Also, the FP commitment in Nigeria is still as little as 1 percent of the health sector budget. This translate to about N3bn every year.
“As of now, the only money allocated through the service is N1.2bn. This means, we still have a long way to go. We need to pump at least N7bn to states to enable them procure drugs.
“We are not there yet, but its not a hundred percent failure. Government is putting in little funds but we still need to do more to procure more drugs.”
