Stakeholders chart ways for WHO-Nigeria technical cooperation

Stakeholders in the health sector have brainstormed on the development of the fourth World Health Organization (WHO)-Nigeria Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) from 2023 to 2027.

 They identified strategic directions and partnerships that would help WHO to effectively support Nigeria towards achieving a more accountable health system, with greater public health impact, and better health outcomes during the fourth CCS cycle.

The WHO CCS is the medium-term strategic vision to guide the organisation’s work in and with a country, in response to that country’s specific priorities and institutional resources needed to achieve its national health policies, strategies and plans as well as the actions needed to achieve its national targets under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The stakeholders also evaluated the third WHO-Nigeria CCS that was implemented from 2018 to 2022.

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Speaking during the CCS review joint stakeholders workshop in Abuja, WHO representative in Nigeria, Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo, said the review is particularly remarkable as it comes during a political transition in the country which provides a potential policy change and transformation window given the opportunities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the primary health care reimagining programme, the National Health Insurance Authority Act, and the Presidential Health Reform programme. 

He said it was also important to reflect on the critical changes within the global health architecture and the political economy of Nigeria, the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2023-2027, the WHO functional review, and most recently, the WHOs five priorities to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs within the extended General Programme of Work. 

The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health, Engineer Funso Adebiyi, said the review provides an opportunity to align the WHO processes and plan with the national plan for health, especially at a time it is setting the agenda for the new administration. 

Represented by Ngozi Azodo, he said the ministry has started the process of reviewing the National Strategic Health Development Plan.

“We are looking at the eight priorities of this administration, and ensuring that they drive the health sector. Our role here is to ensure that these priorities move the health sector forward, and that we synergise them in a way that they are implementable and operational, and that every hand is on deck to ensure that the health sector national plan is fully implemented to achieve the objectives of this administration.”

The Special Adviser to the President on Health, Dr  Salma Anas-Ibrahim,  said  President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s health sector agenda, tagged “Healthcare: A Matter of Right and Urgency” of the APC Renewed Hope mantra, has an action plan for a better Nigeria based on 10  foundation pillars which have “Make basic healthcare, education and housing accessible for all” as a key deliverable for Nigerians. 

She said the government’s health agenda shall be hitched and defined by the concept of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

She added that consequently, the government will address the lingering nation’s healthcare challenges, including inadequate health infrastructure, fragmentation, an overburdened workforce, poor insurance coverage and high maternal and infant mortality, among others.