The federal government is set to host a summit on Universal Health Coverage (UHC), to unlock the door for universally, accessible, effective and equitable health care in Nigeria.
The Minister for Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, disclosed this to newsmen yesterday at a ministerial press briefing on Universal Health Coverage.
He said the president had convened the presidential summit on Universal Health coverage in Nigeria with the theme “UHC- Vehicle for Sustainable Growth and Development.”
Chukwu said in order to achieve Mr. President’s Transformation Agenda and become one of the largest 20 economies by the year 20:2020, “a healthy population is required to provide the necessary human capital to spur the needed macro-economic development.”
He said: “Since attaining the status of an independent nation, Nigeria has been searching for a health system that will meet the needs of her citizens.
“The country has implemented various initiatives such as Basic Health Services in the 1970s, Health for All by the year 2000, Achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the National Strategic Health Development Plan (NSHDP) and the Action Push Agenda to transform the health sector.”
The minister said ensuring health for majority of the citizens would require both availability and accessibility of health infrastructure and health services, adding that UHC “is, therefore, imperative for the achievement of the national vision 20:2020.”
