By Tobias Lengnan Dapam
Health Sector Reform Coalition (HSRC) and health experts have adopted a new charter to guide the Federal Government, state Governors and major stakeholders in the health sector.
The coalition which comprises of over 100 CSOs have always been at the forefront of addressing challenges in the country’s health sector.
The annual general meeting policy dialogue 2.0 and charter adoption which took
Place in Abuja on Tuesday, was in collaboration with Save the Children International (SCI), Africa Health Budget Network amongst others.
Speaking at the event, the Board of Trustees (BOT) chairman of Health Reform Foundation HERFON and a member of Health Sector Reform Coalition (HSRC) , Idris Muhammad said they will review and adopt the charter and hit the ground running to make sure that they strengthen the health sector.
At the dialogue themed; ” A critical look at the basic health care provision service-wide approach (BHCP-SWAp) initiative and its path to UHC attainment in Nigeria”, he expressed worry over high level of poverty bedeviling the country.
He said the coalition consist of experienced Doctors who expect a great change in the health sector.
He added that they are comparing notes on best ways to strengthen the health sector.
He said the coalition already met the Minister of Health who gave them what he wants to focus on, which are the 4 points agenda hinched on basis health care position, sector wise, putting all the money together into one place where they can easily be identified and utilized, making sure that they have two Primary Health Care (PHCs) per ward and making sure that there is health for all.
Similar, the interim chairperson of the Health Sector Reform Coalition and also the CEO of Vaccine Network for Disease Control, Chika Ofor said the focus of the meeting was to talk about governance issues and focus on the government strategy which is the BHCP.
She said one of the thing that they have done so far in the health sector is the
She said with the national health act, a lot is expected from the government.
On his part, Save the Children International (SCI), Nigeria, Advocacy, Campaign, and Policy Manager/Survive, Ifedilichukwu Innocent, harped on the need for the coalition to continuously champion advocacy for health reforms.
“One of the things we are pushing is funding for health sector not only increase in terms of numbers but also in terms of efficiency in utilisation.
“If the government of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu can assure us that and put down resources and ensure efficient utilisations of this resources, so the women in my village and his own village will benefit from it, I think it will be the best gift he can give Nigerians.
“As a coalition, we develop an accountability mechanism, like I said before that it is now that we are coming on board to use those accountability mechanism to track the funding and get government people to be accountable and administer the funds .
“As CSO, the most important thing is that we are organising ourselves and we are understanding these issues. We are developing plans to take action one after the other.
“It is also important that at the moment, the coalition is back in it feet again and we hope to see the coalition take adequate of the proposed steps in the near future,” he said.
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