As resources dwindle, stakeholders seek better funding options
As the country struggles with various economic challenges and dwindling resources, the federal government alongside states and some development partners are collaborating to seek more funds for the health sector and also strategize better to use funds to provide quality services. The chief of party, Health Finance and Governance, Dr Gafar Alawode who noted […]
As the country struggles with various economic challenges and dwindling resources, the federal government alongside states and some development partners are collaborating to seek more funds for the health sector and also strategize better to use funds to provide quality services.
The chief of party, Health Finance and Governance, Dr Gafar Alawode who noted that funds are urgently needed to provide quality services also said that pooling of funds into one basket will also improve the financial handicaps in health.
According to him, the universal health coverage is vital for the country as it helps to reduce out of pocket expenditures that weighs heavily on poor families added that all stakeholders need to look for better and smarter ways to operate in the system to get good outcome and save funds.
The workshop on health care financing at the Reiz Continental hotel Abuja is organized by the USAID, the Health Finance and Governance in collaboration with the federal ministry of health, National Health Insurance Scheme, National Primary Health Care Development Agency.
Dr Alawode said that the workshop is basically to strengthen the health systems of states, boost health outcomes by improving financing for health and HIV and AIDS through domestic resource mobilization, enhancing governance and supporting health care financing reforms.
Earlier Dr Frances Ilika in her presentation, ‘Raising revenue for health, advised that one of the best ways government can improve funding for health is through taxes of luxury goods and ensuring efficiency improvements within the health sector.
She also added that government needs alternative funding mechanism to sponsor projects to ensure ownership and sustainability even if there are donor supports to enhance the project so as to avoid a crash when the donors are no more.
“It’s better for us to allow donors use their funds to build our capacities, while our government sponsors the programmes so that even when the development parties leave, we can adequately sustain the programmes,” she said.
She also stressed the need for the country to achieve universal health coverage (UHC), saying, “Government needs to spend more to attain UHC, look for a mix of revenue sources and revenue generation mechanism to ensure a stable, predictable and sustainable system.”