Strong health systems save lives – USAID state director

When primary health care services are strengthened for mothers and children, maternal and infant mortality is reduced and lives are saved, the State Director, USAID Integrated Health Program (IHP), Sokoto, Dr Muhammad Labaran, has said. Labaran, who described maternal health as very crucial to the development of any nation, stated that “Our main area is […]

When primary health care services are strengthened for mothers and children, maternal and infant mortality is reduced and lives are saved, the State Director, USAID Integrated Health Program (IHP), Sokoto, Dr Muhammad Labaran, has said.

Labaran, who described maternal health as very crucial to the development of any nation, stated that “Our main area is health system strengthening as well as services delivery in order to improve maternal and neonatal health, as well as improve nutrition and combating malaria, and other interventions in primary health care.”

Speaking with Daily Trust in Sokoto, the director expressed concern over high mortality and morbidity rates associated with pregnancy in Africa.

“Many women die during pregnancy, child birth and post-natal period, this gives a lot of concern to the United States and Nigerian governments. That is why the intervention to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity is very important and why IHP is coming to support and ensure that maternal mortality and morbidity rates are reduced to the barest minimum in Sokoto State and Nigeria in general.”

He noted that IHP was expanded effort by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with the Government of Nigeria to identify and provide technical support for rapid scale-up of proven interventions through improvement of service delivery and strengthening of health systems.

The activity, he added, would facilitate seven core intervention areas – health system strengthening, reproductive health/family planning, maternal, newborn and child health, nutrition and Malaria.

The IHP director observed that the health sector in Nigeria and Africa in general was facing a lot of challenges. “One of the issues is capacity, adequate and qualified personnel to render the services to the teeming population. Personnel are inadequate, where they are, the capacity is not competent to deliver effective services to the population,” he noted.

“So, to change the system, we need to ensure that we engage in capacity building of our service providers as well as ensure support to the state to sustain and own the system,” he said.

Most of the health programmes, he noted, are driven by the partners, adding, “this is not sustainable; this needs to change. State and local governments need to own the system, the programmes. We want to ensure ownership and sustainability of the system so that it can be run by respective tiers of government – state and local.”

Labaran, who also shed light on health care financing, described it as very crucial to system strengthening. He harped on the need for governments to make adequate budgetary provision for healthcare.

“According to the World Health Organisation at least 15 percent of state and national budget should go to health. We want to see that that is achieved in the state and Nigeria as a whole.

“We will work with the state government, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Budget and ensure that the entire budget that has been made for health is also released for the implementation of the programmes. I believe if that is achieved the system would be sustained and states will own it.”

He also stated: “Health insurance is very important. Right now, Nigerians would have to spend very high amount for their healthcare. We want to ensure that the health financing insurance agency which has been established in the state is working very well, so that would reduce the out of pocket spending by individuals and communities in the state. We believe with that we will have a healthy population in the state.”

IHP, he said, would work with the Sokoto State government to identify and provide technical support for rapid scale-up of proven interventions through improvement of service delivery and strengthening of health systems.

Also commenting, a Knowledge Management Specialist, Aisha Sani, underscored the importance of the media towards achieving the set objectives of strengthening primary health care services for Nigerian mothers and children in Sokoto State.