3 years on, Health Act not implemented

Nearly three years since the National Health Act became law, inability to get financial backing to implement it continues to worry health stakeholders and actors in the health sector. Many health sector stakeholders have been campaigning to get more funding put aside to implement the basics of healthcare , but are concerned that not even […]

Nearly three years since the National Health Act became law, inability to get financial backing to implement it continues to worry health stakeholders and actors in the health sector.

Many health sector stakeholders have been campaigning to get more funding put aside to implement the basics of healthcare , but are concerned that not even the “at least 1%” of consolidated revenue to fund basic health care is in sight.

Dr Tunde Segun, country director of MamaYe Evidence for Action, said the absence of funding spelt doom for health care and service delivery in the country, insisting that it does not portray an administration that claims to have firm stand against corruption in good light.

He described the act as a beautiful piece of legislation that strengthened the framework for health provision, but said that the its non-implementation remained a big setback.

“It’s sad that the government itself is not implementing its own laws. When the National Health Act was passed into law, one provision of the bill says at least one percent of the consolidated revenue fund will be given to the health sector.

"Unfortunately, this was clearly excluded from the 2018 budget. This is not good for an administration that claims that it has a good stand against corruption. In other climes, some people can take the government to court for not implementing its own law,” he said.

MamaYe is part of a Coalition for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health Accountability in Nigeria (C4MAN), which has repeatedly questioned the meagre budgetary allocations to health.

Dr. Ejike Orji, C4MAN chairman, said in spite of being a signatory to the 2001 African Union Abuja Declaration, Nigeria has not met the minimum requirement of allocating 15 per cent of the total annual budget to health.