By Racheal Abujah

Nigeria Health Watch, a prominent, not-for-profit health communications and advocacy organisation, says stronger partnerships among innovators, policymakers, funders and development partners will help promising health innovations reach more Nigerians.

The Managing Director of Nigeria Health Watch, Vivianne Ihekweazu, said this on Wednesday in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

NAN reports that the interview was in view of the organisation’s 11th Future of Health Conference, with the theme, “From Innovation to Impact: The Future of Health is Now”.

Ihekweazu said that the conference would provide a platform for innovators to showcase practical solutions to existing healthcare challenges.

She said that the innovators would share experiences and explore opportunities for collaboration to expand the impact of their work.

She identified inadequate funding, policy barriers, limited awareness, and difficulties integrating innovations into existing government systems as some of the challenges confronting innovators in Nigeria.

According to her, the conference is designed to connect organisations developing solutions with potential partners who can support their expansion and implementation.

According  to  her,  the Future of Health Conference is also a platform to enable partnerships.

‘’Innovators can use the platform to identify organisations interested in supporting their work, while policymakers and other stakeholders can better understand the obstacles preventing successful solutions from reaching more communities.’’

She said that discussions at the conference would also examine how decision-makers could help address policy and institutional barriers affecting the adoption of innovations.

“The conference will not resolve every challenge confronting the health sector but would provide opportunities to share experiences, identify workable approaches and encourage stakeholders to learn from successful initiatives,” she said.

Ihekweazu said the focus was to move beyond discussions about what was not working in Nigeria’s health system and pay greater attention to solutions already demonstrating results.

“We need to understand how such solutions have succeeded, the challenges they have overcome and the support they require can help other organisations adapt and scale similar approaches,” she said.

She said also, that the conference’s theme reflected the need for innovations to address the country’s present health challenges, rather than remain aspirations for the future.

The MD noted that patients and communities facing urgent healthcare needs could not afford to wait several years for solutions to become available.

She said that the conference would, therefore, examine both the impact of existing innovations and the barriers limiting their expansion.

“The conference will feature a broad range of innovations spanning maternal health, agriculture, emergency preparedness and response, climate change and genomic sequencing,” she said.

She explained that the diverse programme was intended to encourage stakeholders to recognise the contribution of sectors outside conventional healthcare to population health.

According to her, agriculture is particularly important because of its relationship with food security, nutrition and the availability of locally produced food.

She said innovations in agriculture could help address post-harvest losses, improve food availability and strengthen access to nutritious food.

“We often look at agriculture as separate from health, but it is important because of the issues of food security and nutrition.

‘’Nigeria’s agricultural sector has considerable potential to support the economy and improve public health.

‘’This is, particularly through better utilisation of locally produced food and reduced dependence on food imports,” Ihekweazu said.

She said that the conference would help expose participants to innovations that could contribute to addressing these challenges.

“The discussions on climate change and emergency preparedness will also highlight the need for solutions capable of strengthening the country’s ability to respond to emerging and existing health threats,” she said.

The MD said that previous editions of the conference had examined issues that subsequently gained greater attention in Nigeria’s health policy discussions.

She cited an earlier focus on the business of health, which highlighted the growing role of private sector investment and participation in healthcare delivery.

She also recalled a previous conference that examined the Nigerian health workforce in the diaspora and the potential for professionals living abroad to contribute to the country’s health system.

‘’Although health worker migration is frequently discussed in terms of the loss of skilled professionals, some Nigerians abroad return to establish facilities, invest in healthcare and transfer expertise, ‘’ she said.

She cited Lakeshore Cancer Centre in Lagos and other specialist healthcare facilities as examples of investments associated with professionals who had gained experience abroad.

She said that such contributions demonstrated the importance of creating opportunities for health professionals to participate in strengthening Nigeria’s healthcare system.

She added that the organisation had also previously examined the intersection of health and technology as part of its efforts to identify emerging issues and opportunities for improvement.

The MD said that the conference was expected to encourage participants to engage directly with innovators and identify opportunities for collaboration.

Ihekweazu said that the ultimate objective was to encourage practical thinking and strengthen efforts to address the challenges affecting healthcare delivery in the country. (NAN)www.nannews.ng

Edited by Esenvosa Izah