Against all odds, there’s progress, says health council

At its latest five-day meeting in Lagos this month, the council reviewed efforts to improve and bring health care closer to a greater proportion of citizens.The sector is yielding positive results, Health Minister Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu said in opening remarks at the council meeting, citing remarkable reduction in maternal and child mortality, growing control of […]

At its latest five-day meeting in Lagos this month, the council reviewed efforts to improve and bring health care closer to a greater proportion of citizens.
The sector is yielding positive results, Health Minister Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu said in opening remarks at the council meeting, citing remarkable reduction in maternal and child mortality, growing control of Lassa fever, cholera, malaria, meningitis, Guinea Worm and the fight against HIV/AIDS.
“It is gratifying to note that of all epidemics pro-diseases with the exception of measles in recent time has indeed witnessed significant reduction in their prevalence. For example, Lassa fever has reduced in Nigeria from a thousand and two hundred cases in 2011 to a slightly less than a thousand cases in 2012,” the minister said.
The council meeting, with the theme: ‘Health Sector Now And Beyond 2015,’ was attended by health commissioners from all 36 states, alongside health secretary of the FCT, development partners, donor agencies, members of the civil society and public health experts.
The Minister of Health said the Save One Million Lives Initiative, ongoing construction of a new trauma centre in Abuja and the launch of a master plan on tropical diseases are all aimed at improving the health sector.
According to him because of the efficacy of herbal medicine, the teaching of a course on improving herbal medicines will soon be introduced in the medical school curriculum.
Professor Chukwu remarked that the newly introduced national certificate of vaccination against yellow fever, known as yellow cards, with enhanced security feature, was available in all ports where health services are situated for travellers to obtain.
Old cards would cease to be valid from October, but holders of valid old cards yet to expire can replace them with new ones.
The minister said efforts at achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly on child and maternal mortality, have been yielding positive results, stressing collaboration with states could bring additional $100 million in yearly funding for HIV/AIDS.
“The 2012 figures according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics have shown that between 2008 and 2012, we have reduced under-5 mortality in Nigeria from 157 per 1,000 live births. The current figure now is 94 per 1,000 live births.
“Maternal mortality ratio has reduced from between 2012 to 2013 from 545 per 100,000 to 350 per 100,000.
“HIV/AIDS will continue to receive presidential attention, at the recently concluded special summits on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, President Goodluck Jonathan launched his comprehensive response plan on HIV/AIDS.
“It is expected that the Federal Government working in collaboration with the state governments will inject additional 100 million dollars annually in the fight against HIV. The essence of the plan is to identify priority attention and increase domestic resources to fight this disease”, the minister added.
The Representative of World Health Organization, Dr. Andrew Mbewe, underscored the need to continue to make efforts to improve on current achievements.
He remarked that efforts should be geared towards ensuring universal health coverage with water, sanitation, decent housing and health facilities which he added should be provided closer to the people.
Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola urged more attention. “Every state is making interventions in the area of healthcare, in terms of primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities, training and retraining of healthcare personnel and so on, the story is the same, it is the intensity of the activities that is perhaps a little different,” he said.
“But can we all truly say as we sit down here that all of our citizens have access to these facilities? Can we all honestly say that those facilities are enough for all of our citizens? That is the heart of my little contribution to your council meeting; how to provide universal coverage and the answer seems to me just like other societies have done is to enable our people to contribute and benefit from an insurance fund,” he added.