By Safia Abdulrahaman
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, says Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) have become one of the fastest-growing segments of Nigeria’s disease burden, requiring urgent health system readiness.
Pate said this on Thursday in Abuja at the unveiling of a book on Nigeria’s NCDs and health reforms, organised by the Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria (HERFON).
He said hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, sickle cell disease, cancers and neurological conditions were increasing due to lifestyle changes and an ageing population.
The minister said Nigeria’s health reforms began more than 20 years ago, culminating in the National Health Act, with significant progress recorded in the last three years.
He said the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMI) had reduced maternal deaths by 22 per cent and newborn deaths by 10 per cent.
He added that a recent mini Demographic and Health Survey showed increased skilled birth attendance, antenatal care and contraceptive prevalence.
Pate said that malaria incidence had dropped to 15 per cent, the lowest in 20 to 30 years, based on survey statistics, but said HIV, tuberculosis and maternal mortality remained challenges.
“NCDs, even though smaller, are becoming an increasingly faster-growing segment of our burden of disease,” he said.
He said the Federal Government, through the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, had strengthened governance by bringing federal, state and local governments, civil society and the private sector together.
Pate said the federal health budget allocation had increased to six per cent from about three to four per cent previously, while states were being encouraged to increase their funding.
According to him, the government had expanded the primary healthcare system, retrained nearly 80,000 frontline health workers in three years and doubled admission quotas for medical and nursing students.
Pate said three of six world-class tertiary centres had been commissioned in Azare, Enugu and Benin.
He added that 10 world-class diagnostic centres equipped with MRI, CT scanners and catheterisation laboratories had been completed in partnership with MedServe and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), including two recently completed in Ibadan and Bauchi.
He further added that the Federal Executive Council had recently approved more than N268 billion for major infrastructure projects at the National Hospital, Abuja.
Pate said the government was promoting prevention through the National Health Promotion Policy and the Know Your Numbers campaign, which had reached 10 million Nigerians with checks for blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and prostate-specific antigen.
He said the government had also introduced Medipool, a group purchasing organisation, to ensure the availability of quality, affordable medicines at primary healthcare centres and improve treatment compliance for hypertension and diabetes.
Pate said affordability remained critical because NCDs required lifelong treatment, noting that more than seven million Nigerians had been added to health insurance in the last three years through the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
He added that local pharmaceutical manufacturing was being expanded through the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC).
Pate commended HERFON and the book’s authors for providing analysis and recommendations to guide Nigeria’s response to NCDs.
Also speaking, the Chairman of HERFON’s Board of Trustees, Alhaji Idris Muhammed, said the foundation advocated better healthcare for Nigerians through policy advocacy, capacity building and evidence generation at local, state and national levels.
He said HERFON had a presence in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and had contributed to major health sector achievements, including the enactment of the National Health Act, 2014.
Muhammed said the book was the product of months of review by more than 70 subject experts from Nigeria, South Africa, the Middle East, the United Kingdom and the United States.
“The book tells us where we are, what we are doing wrong and what we must do right to stem the tide of NCDs,” he said.(NAN)
Edited by Abiemwense Moru
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