By Amos Tauna
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Nigeria have called for strong Political will to make the Basic Health Care Provisional Fund (BHCPF), a statutory transfer as a means of steadily securing the fund.
They also stressed the need for pragmatic and high absorption capacity in ensuring efficient Financing of Nigeria’s Health Investment Case through improved Budgetary Allocation to the Health sector.
A communique issued at the end of a 2-day meeting in Kaduna, northwest Nigeria, by Asma’u Ahmad, CHR Knowledge Management and Communication Coordinator, says the meeting dwelt on “what the Investment Case priorities are, the gaps and developed advocacy messages and tools to engage national and sub-national leaders.”
The meeting observed, “There should be an inclusive stakeholder’s consultation to provide a framework that will ensure efficient utilization of the Basic Health Care Provisional Funds (BHCPF), through the involvement of Civil Society Organizations, private sector, business community under Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement.
“There is a need for an expanded coverage of all the interventions across all the 36 states and FCT, the broadening of the Minimum Package of Activities.
“That Reproductive health services should include comprehensive HIV Services, government should established youth friendly centres, including comprehensive family planning package, (not just the use of contraceptives) as well as holistic services for people with special needs.”
The CSOs noted that the expected result on Reproductive Maternal Neonatal and Adolescent Health plus Nutrition (RMNCAH+N) that projected modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (mCPR) target of 43% by 2021 need to be reviewed, as the set target of about 200% is unrealistic.
“The reasons being that mCPR percentage has barely gone beyond 11% consistently over the years coupled with dwindling financial resources and the fact that Nigeria is not fully financing family planning.
“Based on the review of the interventions proposed by the GFF Investment Case, the coalitions observed that not all States of the Federation are covered and not all RMNCAH+N services in the Minimum Package of Activities (MPA) are addressed. Also, Nutrition Services are not specified just as the Basic Minimum Package of Health Services (BMPHS) pertinent to RMNCAH+N barely address the problems,” the meeting observed.
The Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN) facilitated the meeting, which comprised the Community and Health Research Initiative (CHR), Nigeria GFF CSOs Working Group, National Advocates for Health (NA4H), Nigeria Youths Champions for Universal Health Coverage (NYC4UHC), Niger State Coalition on MNCH and Representative of GFF CSOs working group in Abia State.
https://www.africaprimenews.com/2018/07/15/health/nigeria-the-advocates-decry-declining-health-funding-call-for-urgent-supplementary-budget/
