WHO plans summit to improve Nigeria’s primary healthcare sector

The World Health Organization says the planned Primary Healthcare Summit in Abuja will renew calls on leaders, advocates and stakeholders in the health sector to improve the sector as contained in the Astana, Kazakhstan, Convention. WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Walter Kazadi Mulombo, told newsmen in Abuja Tuesday that the summit would be held on […]

The World Health Organization says the planned Primary Healthcare Summit in Abuja will renew calls on leaders, advocates and stakeholders in the health sector to improve the sector as contained in the Astana, Kazakhstan, Convention.

WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Walter Kazadi Mulombo, told newsmen in Abuja Tuesday that the summit would be held on March 24 and 25.

• NIGERIA DAILY: Why Nigeria Is Moving Backwards
• APC crisis: Buni’s camp bounces back as activities for convention begin

According to Mulombo, the theme of the summit is ‘Reimagining: Evolving a Resilient Platform for Achieving the Country’s National and Global Health Goals via a Peri-COVID Era’.

The summit is geared towards launching a historic programme to transform the under-resourced, weak primary health care system in Nigeria by leveraging private sector, international agencies and government collaboration.  

It will bring together, national elected leaders, top government officials and leading private sector executives to present ambitious and attainable plans that will lead to tangible and large-scale changes to Nigeria’s PHC system by the year 2030. 

Mulombo said that in 2018, Heads of State and Government, Ministers and representatives of States and Governments, came together at the Global Conference on PHC in Astana, to reinvigorate the Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals and recommit to the 40-year-old vision of the Alma Ata declaration on PHCs. 

He described the theme of the summit as apt, especially coming at a time when the health delivery system had experienced a severe setback due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

He said the situation had necessitated a need for more radical approach to restructure and refocus the health system, with considerations to support the PHC level, which was the cornerstone of the health system.

NAN recalls that reimagining PHC of the country is an ambitious, transformative project to improve and expand primary healthcare in Nigeria by the year 2030. 

The project, among others, plans to utilise innovative financing mechanisms to boost financing sources in order to increase the number and quality of healthcare workers; upgrade the infrastructure of facilities; and ensure the availability of equipment, essential medicines, and commodities.

It also strives to have modernized information, data management and tech systems; and leverage medical technologies as alternative methods for service delivery.  

The project will prioritise community participation and is committed to transparent, accountable, results-driven implementation. 

“Reimagining PHC” is led by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, with the support of partners.” (NAN)