By Abujah Racheal

Stakeholders in the health sector have called for the integration of the public and private sectors to reduce maternal mortality, noting that such an integration is an effective strategy for reducing the incidence in the country.

They said this at a webinar on Tuesday, organised by the Nigeria Health Watch with funding from “MSD for Mothers”, with the theme; ”Building Resilient Maternal Health Systems through Private Sector Integration”.

The initiative of MSD for mothers, worth US$ 650 million, helps to create a world where no woman has to die while giving life.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the webinar provided an avenue for stakeholders to advocate to policy-makers on the importance of private sector integration in Nigeria’s mixed health systems.

The webinar was also to provide actionable steps to effectively engage the private sector to build resilient and sustainable maternal health systems that delivers quality maternal healthcare services in the country.

The president of Healthcare Federation of Nigeria, (HFN), Dr Pamela Ajayi, said that progress can be made when the private and public sectors work together to improve health outcomes in the country.

Ajayi said that there was a need to invest in health systems in the country, but for this to work, there must be alignment and incentives to encourage collaboration.

According to her, the private sector broadly covers maternal health in the country, accounting for 60 to 70 per cent of services.

She said that the maternity period was supposed to be a time of joy, not anxiety.

“The private sector has a crucial role in improving maternal health outcomes in Nigeria,” she said.

According to Mr David Clarke, Acting Unit Head, Health Systems Governance and Policy, World Health Organisation (WHO), the Country Connector for Private Sector in Health has recorded impact in ensuring that governments achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and health security for their population by harnessing the public and private health sector’s collective national expertise and resources.

Clarke also reaffirmed the commitment of the WHO Country Connector to evolve from supporting countries with COVID-19 support, to helping governments improve their capacities to improve health systems and outcomes.

Dr Amina Mohammad Baloni, the former Commissioner for Health, Kaduna State, said that the state government looked into private sector integration with a framework of improving the supply chain of medicines and its accessibility to benefit people living in hard-to-reach areas.

“When we talk about accessing private care in Nigeria, most citizens do this through Patent and Proprietary Medine Vendors (PPMVs),” she said.

Baloni said that there was a need to employ quality standards across the private and public sectors to ensure efficient health delivery for all in the country.

Dr Ben Nkechika, Chief Executive Officer, Delta State Contributory Health Commission (DSCHC), said that there was a need for participatory cooperation among stakeholders to improve the health outcomes of Nigerians.

Nkechika said that a resilient healthcare system was one in which the patient can access the healthcare they need when they needed it, without substantial financial catastrophe.

According to Mr Temitayo Erogbogbo, Global Advocacy Director, MSD for Mothers, there is an urgent need to integrate the private sector to aid the financing of health systems and improve health outcomes of Nigerians.

Erogbogbo said that a lot of attention has not been given to the quality of care and the outcomes, and that has to change in the country.

He said quality matters as the country was losing more people through poor quality and lack of access to care across the country.

The Managing Director, Nigeria Health Watch, Mrs Vivianne Ihekweazu, said strengthening maternal health in the country remains a challenge, despite the fact that the country continues to account for a quarter of the global maternal deaths, according to a recent report.

According to Ihekweazu, “These are mothers, sisters and friends who should not be dying while giving birth in the country.”

She said if the country were to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.1, there was a lot of work for it to do to promote maternal health outcomes in the country.

Meanwhile, Mrs Bunmi Oyebanji Obot, Programme Manager, Nigeria Health Watch, said that the objective of the webinar was to enable stakeholders to gain practical insights into opportunities, best practices, benefits and the importance of public and private sector engagement.

They also heard how private sector partnerships can strengthen maternal health care in a mixed health system, and identifying areas for policy development that will foster private sector integration and commence the establishment of frameworks for action.

“Be better informed on the key success factors for public-private partnerships and the opportunities for scaling up such initiatives,” she said.

Obot said that public-private sector integration can be a powerful strategy for reducing maternal mortality in the country

“By working together, the public and private sectors can leverage their respective strengths and resources to improve maternal health outcomes and ensure that all women have access to quality maternal health services,” she said.

NAN recalled that Nigeria has the second highest maternal mortality rate globally, with about 58,000 pregnant women dying yearly while giving birth, regarded as a tragic statistic that deserves greater attention and action from both the public and private sectors. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Vincent Obi

By Folasade Akpan

The Director-General, National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT), Dr Usman Aliyu, has called on the Federal Government to fund the institute to be able to achieve its mandate.
Aliyu made the appeal on Monday in Abuja, during a media conference.
According to him, getting the appropriate funding will help the institute to embark on the needed research to reverse the growing cancer incidents in the country.
He said that the disease was globally recognised as one of the leading Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), adding that it is a major contributor of morbidity and mortality.
“It is estimated to have had over 19.3 million new cases and about 10.0 million deaths in 2020.
“The number of new cases is expected to rise by 70 per cent in the next two decades with the highest burden in low-and middle-income countries where survival rates less than half of those in developed countries.
“In Nigeria, cancer caused over 78,000 deaths in 2020 alone and is set to increase given that there are 120,000 new cases of cancer every year ” he said.
Aliyu said that cancer has immense socio-economic impact on individuals, families, communities and the health system.
He added that the huge burden of the disease was compounded by a severely limited capacity of most low income countries to provide the necessary healthcare.
“This is just an appeal that we want to make to the Federal Government that this institute needs a lot of funding.
“So that at least we can embark on and carry out a lot of research because research is the answer to the problem that we have in cancer space in the country.
“It is through research that you can define or identify the best constructible preventive mechanism.
“Likewise in the area of diagnosis we are still evolving and it is through research that we can actually identify and come up with newer modalities to diagnose cancer.”
The institute, which was established under the NICRAT Act of 2017, has the responsibility to provide national leadership in cancer research, treatment and control among other things.
Aliyu said that the institute, which commenced operations in January  intends to carry out mapping of the resources needed in cancer space to work with.
“Be it human resource, let us know the workforce, the manpower that we have, the specialists that we have, the surgeons, surgical oncologists, medical oncologists, radiation clinical oncologists, the community health people that are working in cancer, even the advocates.
“We do not have a document that says this is the exact number and if you don’t have all that you cannot plan.
“So we intend to carry out general mapping on that and also on the burden of cancer within the country and that will tell us the prevalence, the incidence that we have.
“This is because most of the problems that we are having, these projections that we have most of the researches that we have seen are purely hospital based and they are just the tip of the iceberg.
“So we have already initiated the discussion with the National Cancer Institute in America and we hope to get a lot of partners to work with us along this line,” he said.
Aliyu also said that the institute has already sought collaborations with other cancer institutes across the globe to enable it get all the necessary support needed.
He added that so far there have been positive responses that would lead to beneficial collaborations that would ease the burden of cancer in Nigeria.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Ismail Abdulaziz

By Folasade Akpan

The Federal Government says it is concerned that in spite of efforts to curb drug abuse, the menace has reached an epidemic proportion and thus requires concerted efforts by all to curb it.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Mr Olufunso Adebiyi, said this on Monday in Abuja, during a news conference to commemorate the ‘2023 International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking’.
The World Drug Day marked on June 26 every year has “People First: Stop Stigma and Discrimination, Strenghten Prevention” as its theme.
Adebiyi was represented by the Director, Food and Drugs Services, Mrs Olubunmi Aribeana.
According to him, drug trafficking and use are not only a threat to the security, governance and development of a nation but also to the health of its citizenry.
“In as much as supply reduction strategies led by law enforcement and the application of criminal sanctions represent significant efforts towards curbing access to illicit drugs and their non-medical use, there is need to match such measures with innovative drug demand reduction strategies.
“Consequently, implementation of an all-inclusive and integrated approach with equal attention paid to drug supply and demand reduction is crucial.
“This is in line with the spirit of the three UN International Conventions on Drug Control established to protect human health by preventing drug abuse and dependence, and ensuring access to controlled medicines for medical and scientific purposes only.”
Drawing reference from the 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, Adebiyi said that it was estimated that the prevalence of drug use in Nigeria was at 14.4 per cent.
This translates to 14.3 million people between the ages of 15 and 64 who use drugs like cannabis, amphetamines, tramadol, codeine and cocaine.
This, he said, was more than twice the global prevalence of 5.6 per cent among the adult population.
“The report also estimated 376,000 people to be high risk drug users with one in five of these persons injecting drugs.
“This translates to about 80,000 people estimated to be People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) in Nigeria.”
He added that 78 per cent of those injecting drugs were men and that the most common drugs injected were pharmaceutical opioids (such as tramadol, codeine or morphine), followed by cocaine, heroin and tranquilisers.
It also estimated that among every four drug users in Nigeria, one was a woman and that one in five persons who had used drugs in the past year was suffering from drug use disorders.
“Furthermore, the 2020 World Drug Report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) disclosed that people who inject drugs are at increased risk of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and viral hepatitis B and C.
“This is in addition to overdose-related deaths. The World Health Organisation (WHO) also reported in 2015 that psychoactive drug use is responsible for more than 450,000 deaths per year.”
According to him, these are not just statistics but real people who are suffering from the impact of drug abuse.
He, however, said that people who use drugs were at risk of suffering from various health consequences such as infectious diseases like HIV, drug addiction or even sudden death due to opioid overdose.
“Drug abuse also hurts relationships, families and communities. Drug abuse can hinder our children from attaining high educational status; securing and maintaining great jobs; overcoming financial instability and poverty; as well as preventing us from living our lives free of violence and crime.
“Thus, while strengthening our healthcare system to proactively respond by providing healthcare services to those in need of treatment, there is also an obvious need to address barriers to treatment such as stigma and discrimination.
“We also need to strengthen prevention efforts, early detection measures and institutionalise essential harm reduction services to curb this menace in the interest of the wellbeing and development of our people.”
Adebiyi, however, said that there were concerted efforts by the Federal Government and other stakeholders to rid the nation of drug use and abuse.
They include setting up of the National Technical Working Group (NTWG) on Harm Reduction Services in Nigeria to lead the implementation of three critical harm reduction services that focus on people who use drugs.
Others are implementing the National Policy for Controlled Medicines and its Implementation Strategies, and upgrading of 11 hospitals as Model Drug Treatment Centres with the support of the UNODC, across the six geo-political zones of the country.
On the theme of the commemoration, he said that it aimed to raise awareness about the importance of treating people who use drugs with respect and empathy and providing evidence-based, voluntary services for all.
He said that it also aims to offer alternatives to punishment, prioritising prevention and leading with compassion.
On her part, Aribeana said that the focus for the commemoration was to advocate for strengthened action and cooperation in addressing the world drug problem.
Also drawing from the 2018 National Drug Use Survey, she said that cannabis followed closely by opioids were the most abused substances in Nigeria.
According to her, an estimated 10.8 million Nigerians were reported to have used Cannabis in 2017 while 4.6 million were found to have used opioids for non-medical purposes in the same year.
“These alarming statistics provide only a glimpse into the global drug use situation which recognises the increasing trend of drug use in Nigeria and all over.
“They highlight the growing non-medical use of drugs including cannabis, amphetamines and opioids such as Tramadol, Codeine and Morphine which have become a serious public health concern.”
Thus, there is a strong need for action and collaboration by all.
“Nations are also cognisant of the immense benefits of implementing evidence-based strategies in the prevention and treatment of drug and substance abuse as well as rehabilitation of drug users.
“Concerted efforts are constantly being made to strengthen global action and cooperation towards achieving drug free societies,” she added.
Mrs Unoma Asomugha, the Deputy Director, Narcotics and Controlled Substance Directorate, National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), said that the agency recognises that narcotics and some controlled substances are indispensable for medical use, for industrial purposes or for scientific purposes.
She said that the agency also recognises that they have a very high abuse potential, because they have very high impact on individuals, on public health and on the socio-economic fabric of the nation.
“So we focus on methods to ensure that those that need these products have access but also that drug abuse and drug misuse are minimised.”
Dr Sa’adatu Adamu of ISSUP said that everyone has a role to play in curbing drug use and abuse.
According to her, seeing the individuals who use or abuse drugs first as human beings can help everyone understand the root cause and may be help them through the process and not stigmatise them.
“ISUUP is an organisation that has different people come together, it is a place where we think that everyone is important.
“So, if you are in the mental health field, you have a role to play in the life of someone who is struggling with addiction. If you are also in the counselling field, you have a role to play in the lives of families.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the campaign against drug use and trafficking aims to combat stigma and discrimination against people who use drugs by promoting language and attitudes that are respectful and non-judgmental. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola