HFN to address critical issues facing Nigeria’s healthcare system at 2023 annual conference
By Onome Amuge
The Healthcare Federation of Nigeria (HFN) has announced plans to tackle several challenges affecting the Nigerian healthcare ecosystem, during the 2023 Annual Conference billed for February 3 to 4, 2023 in Harbour Point, Victoria Island, Lagos.
HFN, a coalition of Nigerian private healthcare sector stakeholders, said the conference, themed “Building the Healthcare of Our Future”, aims to educate and secure the buy-in of sector regulators and policymakers on the sector issues and their humongous impact on national socio economic development. It also seeks to actualise a collaborative framework of action with all stakeholders on how to tackle all identified challenges, outlining responsibilities, and an implementation schedule/protocol.
The non-profit organisation added that the conference seeks to highlight and address the critical issues hindering the development of the healthcare sector, such as fiscal policy gaps or implementation deficiencies, monetary policy tightening, depletion of human resources across the healthcare value chain, insufficient healthcare funding, among other industry challenges.
“These challenges are headwinds that require a structured and collaborative platform to effectively address them and agree a Framework of Action for output implementation. Hence, the imperative for the institutionalisation of a HFN Annual Conference as an integral segment of HFN’s Annual General Meetings,” HFN said in a concept note.
The Healthcare Federation of Nigeria has been at the forefront of health-care sector advocacy to draw stakeholder attention to the critical issues of all segments of the healthcare ecosystem and champion solution options to those issues. The conference,according to the organisation, seeks to secure stakeholder commitment for effective sector repositioning through focused implementation of the agreed framework of action.
To this effect, HFN has planned the conference to feature speeches and panel discussions on possible solutions to the highlighted challenges as well as showcase some of the solutions that are already working in the country’s healthcare system that could be replicated for a better healthcare for all.
According to a draft programme released by HFN, Osagie E. Ehanire, Nigeria’s Minister of Health, and Ibrahim Oloriegbe, chairman senate committee on health, will be in attendance at the conference. Ehanire will declare the conference open, while Oloriegbe will give legislative remarks.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos State Governor and Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, minister of finance, budget, and national planning, have also been invited to the conference.
Similarly,António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General,and Aminu Tambuwal, Sokoto State Governor and Chairman of Nigerian Governors’ Forum, are expected to deliver goodwill messages at the conference which comes up at the conference.
The draft programme shows that the discussions are divided into segments. The first segment will seek to address the fiscal policy challenges to ease of doing business in Nigeria’s healthcare sector, where the minister of finance, budget and national planning, is expected to speak on “Fiscal Framework for Promotion of Healthcare Sector Investment in Nigeria”. There will also be a session on “Fiscal Policy: HS Codes Reform, Duty Exemptions, and AfCFTA. Is Healthcare Important Enough? ”
The second segment will dwell on “Healthcare Investment and Financing”, with Babatunde Omilola of African Development Bank (AfDB) as the speaker, while the third segment will concern itself with “Pharmaceutical Sector Issues: From Local Manufacturing, Research and Development, to Drug-Revolving Schemes”.
The fourth segment will focus on “Implementing the New NHIA: Implications of HMOs, Providers and Employers” and will see Andrew Odum, SAN, FIMC, speak on the topic “Implementing the New NHI: The Difference between the Old NHIS ACT and the New NHIA Act”.
The fifth segment, one of the key highlights of the conference, will be a special session on “Women in Leadership Series (Launching the HFN Women’s Forum)”.
Oludolapo Osinbajo,wife of Nigeria’s vice president,Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, first lady of Lagos State,Tomi Coker, Ogun State commissioner for health, and Amina Baloni, Kaduna State commissioner for health, have been invited to grace the session, whileTowun Candide-Johnson, CEO, Gaie, will speak on the topic “How to Harness the Power of Networking”.
The sixth segment will centre on “The Diaspora Dialogue: Addressing the Human Resource Crisis Structures, Systems and Technology”. Under this segment, Pamela Ajayi, HFN President, will speak on “Achieving the UN SDGs Targets on Healthcare in Nigeria: The Clear and Present Danger of Depleting Healthcare Professionals in the Nigerian Healthcare Ecosystem vs. the Paradox of Rising Investment in Nigeria’s Healthcare Industry”.
There will be a roundtable panel session of HFN EXCO with health sector editors of print, electronic, and social media, to be followed by HFN’s Annual General Meeting and election.