The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other stakeholders in the health sector have advocated improved funding for maternal and child health care.
The experts who came together to discuss the challenges facing Nigeria’s healthcare financing at a workshop and stakeholders’ engagement on budgeting and financing of primary health care and maternal and child health, organised by the Development Governance International (DGI) Consult, with funding from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), stressed the need to prioritise and address the critical gaps through increased and sustained investment in the health sector to strengthen PHC service delivery.
In his opening remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of DGI Consult, Dr. Gafar Alawode, explained that the objective was to disseminate key findings from the public health expenditure analysis, advocating increased investments in priority areas; sharing policy recommendations and secure stakeholders’ commitment to improve resource allocation as well as to chart a course of action for implementation of the policy.
Also, in his welcome address, Health Specialist at UNICEF, Dr. Sachin Bhokare, explained the need to ensure that every Nigerian, particularly women, children, and the most vulnerable have access to quality, affordable and equitable health care.
He noted that the event serves as a platform to disseminate findings from the budget analysis, celebrate progress made, identify persistent challenges and importantly, deliberate on practical, evidence-based strategies to strengthen public health financing.
The workshop which took place at the Radiance Spring Hotel, Gudu, Abuja, examined the summaries of earlier public health expenditure analyses conducted across four Nigerian states, namely, Bayelsa, Gombe, Niger and Taraba.