The African Health Budget Network (AHBN) is to launch a regional accountability framework for health security soon.
The coordinator of AHBN, Dr Aminu Magashi Garba, made the disclosure in Abuja during the technical peer review retreat on strengthening accountability of health security finances in Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Senegal and Cameroon.
He said the four countries would roll out the use of scorecard at country level to track progress and accountability for results and resources.
He said, “Over the next 12 months, we are hoping to see that the scorecard is strengthening civil society participation, and is strengthening government to respond to epidemic problem. It is also strengthening governance and coordination at country level, and also the ability to attract funding from donor partners and use the money in the right way to address the needs of the people at country level.”
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He said strengthening accountability for health security financing is important because of the multiple disease outbreaks affecting many African countries.
He said Nigeria, for instance, has experienced diphtheria, Lassa fever, meningitis, mpox among others, adding that the country is battling one disease or the other.
He said as a result of the outbreaks, the African head of states and ministers of health are also struggling with delay in accessing resources to address the critical issue of outbreak of diseases.
“So we felt that even with the meagre money available in the country and with the support from donor partners, with all sustainable finance mechanisms, civil society and the media need to strengthen accountability, so that the money allocated are utilized very well; to strengthen governance and coordination and ensure that we are preventing the spread of infection,” he added.
The AHBN coordinator also said it is very important for governments of the respective countries to sit up, and do more planning, ensure preparedness and appropriate response against epidemics and pandemics.
“And the government must also be engaging with the public, you know, providing quality information, correct and factual, so that there will not be any fake news.
“There should not be any misinformation regarding any particular vaccination or infection control and prevention in Nigeria and other African countries,” he stated.
Dr Opeyemi Adeosun, Programme Manager of Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria, called for an emergency fund for health security in all countries in Africa.
He said the fund is particularly important because the rate of travel from and to Nigeria is more than some other countries.
He said a 2018 survey revealed that Nigerians traveled to about 170 countries within two months. “That means that Nigerians entered or came out of those countries. They travel far and wide. We are natural hosts to some of these infections; we carry the disease and take it to other countries and also bring diseases from those countries. So we have to, be more serious with our health security system, especially the government,” he stated.
A participant from Sierra Leone, Victor Lansana Koroma, the Executive Director for Health Alerts, a network of civil society organisations comprising over 50 CSOs, young people, and the media in Sierra Leone, said holding the government and relevant authorities accountable is important to ensure that the finances that are disbursed or provided to them by partners and development partners are well utilised and judiciously used.
“That is our work as civil society in holding them accountable. So this engagement is extremely important for us, because it gives us an opportunity to understand more details about how we engage our policy makers.
“For me, even what we are discussing now, when we talk about the accountability framework, this is a scorecard that is developed and which I am participating in, and that is going to guide us in our country, to see how we are going to engage stakeholders that are involved in health security, preparedness, pandemic preparedness and response,” he stated.
He said the peer review meeting built his capacity, and that he will use the knowledge gained in his home country.
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