Punch, 15 February 2017
FG approves new National Health Policy

The Federal Executive Council has approved a new National Health Policy aimed at promoting the health of Nigerians to accelerate socio-economic development in the country. The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, made this known when he briefed State House correspondents on the outcome of the FEC meeting, which was presided by the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. He said that the policy, which was initially approved by the National Council on Health, was extensively deliberated by the council before the final approval. According to him, the policy is the third health policy in the history of Nigeria. The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the first national health policy was in 1988, while the second policy was produced in 2004. “This new policy will provide directions necessary to support the achievements of significant progress in terms of improving the performance of the national health system. “It also lays emphasis on primary healthcare as the bedrock of our national health system in addition to the provision of financial risk protection to all Nigerians particularly the poor and vulnerable population. “This administration is reputed for being pro-poor and we are quiet committed to alleviating the problem of the poor Nigerians, the vulnerable the unemployed and the disadvantaged,’’ he said.  

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The Federal Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Union (EU) on 70 million Euro support to Revamp Nigeria’s health sector. According to the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, the fund will be used to strengthen the nation’s already weak health system and eradicate polio. The Head of the European Union Delegation to Nigeria, Michel Arrion emphasised the need to concentrate on reducing the nation’s burden of maternal child mortality. Nigeria’s health sector has been grappled with inadequate financing as the National budgetary allocation fluctuates between 4.6 and 5.4 percent since 2011. However, the Bauchi State governor, Mohammed Abubakar spoke on behalf of benefiting states, advocating for the building of internal capacity in the states rather than waste the money on consultants. Besides strengthening the already weak health care system in the country, 2.7 million children under five years of age and 850 pregnant women are expected to benefit from this funding in Adamawa, Bauchi, and Kebbi states.  

Nigeria is set to benefit from the 100&Change competition sponsored by the MacArthur foundation. The winner of the competition will be granted $100 million for six years to proffer solutions to outlined problem. In the projects submitted and outlined by the eight finalists, Nigeria is a target country in at least two of them. The McArthur Foundation is one of the largest independent foundations in the United States of America, providing support to creative people, effective institutions and influential networks companies and groups with ideas towards making a better world. The foundation’s aim is to provide a lasting solution to some of the world’s most pressing social challenges, including diseases, epidemics, climate change, and nuclear risk. The foundation announced the semi-finalists from over one hundred nominations for this year. The shortlisted proposals, according to a statement by the foundation, cover the range and scope of other received nominations. The proposals will be subjected to further review to produce five finalists from which a winner will emerge. If any of the companies having Nigeria as a target country wins, Nigeria stands to have one of the major health issues in rural communities resolved.

Nigeria and eight other countries have committed to halving maternal and newborn deaths in health facilities within the next 5 years. The other countries are Bangladesh, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda – committed to halving preventable deaths of pregnant women and newborns in their health facilities. According to UNICEF, in Nigeria, 145 women die daily, as well as about 2,300 under-five year olds, representing a quarter of the total number of deaths of children under-five. In a statement released February 14, the World Health Organisation, WHO, said by working to improve the quality of care mothers and babies received in their health facilities, the countries will work through a new Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn in conjunction with UNICEF and other partners. This Network aims to strengthen national efforts to end preventable deaths by 2030, as envisioned by the Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health. Countries will do that for example, by strengthening capacity and motivation of health professional to plan and manage quality improvement, improving data collection and increasing access to medicines, supplies, equipment and clean water. 

Most Nigerians may not be able to afford even essential medicines as the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) begins the implementation of 20 per cent duty on imported pharmaceutical products. A circular released recently from the Federal Ministry of Finance titled: “Import Adjustment Tax”, the minister, Kemi Adeosun, ordered the introduction of 20 per cent tax on imported medicaments. This means that for every imported drugs and allied products a minimum duty of 20 percent is payable to the coffers of government through the Nigeria Customs Service. This extra payment, analysts insist, will result in more than proportional increases in prices of drugs, which definitely will cascade down the ladder to the common man in the street, the very people the government vowed to give affordable and available health care. Unfortunately, the policy directive is even contrary to World Trade Organisation (WTO) recommendation, which the immediate past government of former President, Goodluck Jonathan, adopted during his tenure. The WTO recommended in 1988 that not more than five per cent duty on medicament as a way of fast forwarding the achievement of global vision of affordable universal healthcare and eliminating diseases. 

Every time she needs to go to the toilet, Shadima Irima recalls the moment Boko Haram militants stormed her home in northeast Nigeria and killed her cousin before her eyes. Watching dozens of people lining up outside of a couple of latrines in a camp for the displaced in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, the 38-year-old spoke about the fear she feels every time she ventures into the bush to relieve herself. "I am scared of snakes, bad men and Boko Haram," Irima told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, explaining how looking after her children, fetching water and cooking meals means she cannot afford to wait for hours to use the few toilets in the camp. "Anything can happen in the bush, like rape. Even thinking about going to the toilet there scares me," she said outside her hut in the Muna Garage camp in Borno, the heart of Boko Haram's seven-year bid to create an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria. The jihadists' insurgency has displaced some 1.8 million people and destroyed three-quarters of water points and toilets in the region - piling pressure on the limited facilities in camps and communities, and sparking fears of disease outbreaks.  

February the 14th means a number of things to different people. Popularly known as Valentine’s Day, it is often replete with messages of love and romance. For a lot of couples, lifelong commitments are made this season and for couples who decide to take the plunge into a future together, a number of decisions will be made about the next step. So often, personality, class, family and shared interests are considered prior to a couple investing into a long term relationship such as marriage. However, according to a recent study, a significant proportion of Nigerians are unaware of their genotype prior to marriage. The study on the attitudes and awareness of youths in the Yaba Development Area found that 55% of young people aged 15–19 years old had no exposure to premarital counselling on genotypic profiling. This same group scored lowest in their knowledge of sickle cell disorder. While in general, Nigerians seem to be aware of the existence of genotypes, in rural populations, there appears to be widespread ignorance about the consequences of not paying attention to genotype compatibility. Many people don’t know that for each pregnancy in which both parents are AS, there is a 25% chance of them giving birth to a child with the sickle cell genotype.

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