The elections: Health for all

On January 22, 2015, a Northern Women’s Conference was organised in Hausa for community women to articulate their priority issues. The theme of the conference was Matan Aewa  Me Kuke So?  (Women of the North, What Do you Want?) The event which held at the Catholic Social Centre, Kaduna was organised by the Abuja-based Kukah […]

On January 22, 2015, a Northern Women’s Conference was organised in Hausa for community women to articulate their priority issues. The theme of the conference was Matan Aewa  Me Kuke So?  (Women of the North, What Do you Want?) The event which held at the Catholic Social Centre, Kaduna was organised by the Abuja-based Kukah Centre for Policy and Dialogue. It drew participants from various walks of life. The women spoke in Hausa and used the forum to articulate the issues they wanted the government to address.
I had a commitment elsewhere so my paper was delivered by Hajiya Amina Ladan Baki, the Programme Manager of Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation. The organisation is known for its numerous women empowerment activities in Northern states. My paper was titled Northern Women’s Manifesto and it highlighted issues earlier identified by women activists and presented to political parties for inclusion in their manifestoes.  Among the demands listed are: Invest in women’s economic empowerment and livelihoods, Promote women’s health, security and safety, Demonstrate political will and commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment, Improve women’s participation in politics and decision-making, and demonstrate principled transformational leadership.
 On January 10 2015, advocates for better health also met at a one day weekend retreat in Kaduna to review the prospects and challenges in the health sector and outline the way forward.  To place their issues on the front burn of public discourse would require developing media strategies and identifying committed media practitioners to give them adequate coverage. The major issues highlighted by the advocates during the meeting were the prolonged strikes by health workers, drastic reduction in the international oil price which is already affecting the national revenue. This will also result in reduction of the national budget including the health sector health budget in 2015. Of great concern is the newly passed National Health Act which relies on oil revenue and how this will affect health interventions. Nigeria is on the verge of eradicating polio after years of awareness-raising in communities that were known for non compliance. How will reduced funding affect the polio eradication campaign? Our maternal and child mortality rate remain unacceptably high. Our hospitals, particularly in the rural areas are battling with the dearth of skilled birth attendants and inadequate supply of maternal health commodities and poor contraceptive prevalence rate. Donor funding for vital drugs and services in HIV/ AIDS sector is being withdrawn. As a result, subsidized drugs are no longer available and people living with HIV/AIDS are forced to pay for services and also purchase their drugs. Many of them are struggling to pay for these with their depleting earnings. Others who constitute the most vulnerable among them cannot even afford to buy their drugs nor eat balanced diet that is recommended for those living positively. Nigeria has both human and material resources to provide comprehensive and effective health care services for all. However, years of neglect of health infrastructure, lack of political will and poor accountability for health care, particularly maternal and child health have slowed progress in attaining health for all. Due to these persisting obstacles, maternal and child mortality remains high making it one of the highest in the world and a high probability that Nigeria will not meet the MDGs by 2015.
Advocacy Nigeria is a network of advocates working to promote maternal and child health in thirteen northern states with the poorest health indicators. It is currently implementing a project on promoting accountability in the implementation of maternal health services in three states Adamawa, Gombe and Zamfara. The project is supported by a private foundation the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation.
The goal of the project is to contribute to the reduction of maternal and child mortality and improve the living standards of the people in three states. The project aims to advocate to policy makers in these states to implement budget allocations and release for maternal health services, build capacity of community groups on advocacy and petitioning government to demand improved service delivery, follow up in monitoring health facility services and maternal work with all political parties to include issues of maternal health in their manifestos.
The major focus of Advocacy Nigeria’s accountability work is in monitoring the implementation of the Free Maternal Child Health FMCH that all Northern States have adopted for implementation- It has established a network of advocates to undertake the following:
 -Advocacy for an increase in funding for reproductive health at the national, state, and local government levels;
-Creating an enabling policy environment for maternal health and ensuring that Nigeria fulfils its commitments for improving maternal and child health:
-Ensure that the highest levels of political authority, including the National and State Houses of Assembly, policy makers in Ministries, Agencies and Department MDAs and others act to ensure increased budget for implementation of comprehensive and free maternal health services.
AdvocacyNigeria has developed a directory of active political parties in its project states and assessed the maternal health components included in the manifestoes of the five major political parties- All Progressives Congress (APC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Advocacy to the parties to make maternal and child health a priority is ongoing.