WHO sets technical strategy to boost Nigeria’s health system

Business A.M

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it is reviewing its 3rd generation Country Cooperation Strategy 2018-2022 (CSS III) in alignment with the health transformative agenda of the Nigerian government to identify game-changing strategic directions and alliances to strengthen the country’s health system and achieve better health outcomes in the next five years.

The Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) is a medium-term strategic document that presents WHO’s vision for technical cooperation with a given member state, in support of the country’s national health policy, strategy, or plan.

Prior to the announcement,the specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health, has developed and successfully implemented three generations of CCS in Nigeria.

A statement obtained by Business A.M showed that the current CSS under review was first developed in 2014, revised in 2018 and extended to 2022 to respond to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in line with the  Nigeria Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, the National Health Policy 2016, the National Strategic Health Development Plan II, the UN Sustainable Development Partnership Framework 2018-2022, the WHO Transformation Agenda as well as  the WHO’s 13″ General Program of Work (GPW13).

Addressing participants at the two-day feedback workshop on the evaluation of the 3rd WHO Country Cooperation Strategy (2018-2022) and identification of strategic priorities for the 4th WHO-Nigeria Country Cooperation Strategy in Abuja, Salma Anas-Ibrahim, thesSpecial adviser to President Bola Tinubu on health, said the workshop by WHO is quite timely with the new government prioritizing and setting its agenda for the different sectors

Anas-Ibrahim explained that the government’s healthcare reforms agenda would align with the existing national health plans to improve the health fortune of the people of Nigeria and shall be hitched and defined by the concept of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), which shall be a primary objective towards new job creation that brings greater economic and social development to the Nigerian people.

“The health needs of the citizens of this country are therefore prioritized as a fundamental human right and a matter of national security which the government shall greatly invest in for national growth, development and sustainable prosperity.

Consequently, the government shall address the lingering nation’s healthcare challenges, including inadequate health infrastructure, fragmentation, an overburdened workforce, poor insurance coverage (catastrophic out-of-pocket expenditures), high maternal and infant mortality, inadequate preventative care and dependence on imported medicines, commodities, equipment and vaccines,” she said.

Olufunso Adebiyi , the permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Health,who was represented by Ngozi Azodoh, disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Health has started the agenda-setting process for the health sector taking into consideration the needs of the people of Nigeria.

“As the WHO is a member state organization, the 4th Generation CCS would support the government of Nigeria to actualize these ideas, especially in coordination and building sustainable partnerships,” she added.

Also speaking at the event, Walter Kazadi Mulombo,the WHO country  representative,said the workshop is to co-create a strategic health agenda which aligns with WHO’s collaboration with other United Nations bodies and development partners at the country level based on identified priorities and needs.

Mulombo explained that member states at the recently concluded  76 World Health Assembly set the pace for accelerating health to achieve the 13th General Program of Work (GPW13) and Sustainable Development Goals and targets by 2030.

According to him, Nigeria, like the rest of the world, has experienced a setback due to COVID-19, in main health indices including maternal, neonatal and child health, requiring innovative ways of working to close the gap.

He pointed out that the development of a new CCS usually follows robust consultative processes and WHO has been engaging with the stakeholders over the past few months to understand what has been done right, the areas we have not done well, and the pointers to the priorities in the next five years.

“This workshop is unique in the history of the WHO Nigeria, considering the critical changes within the global health architecture and political economy of the country, as demonstrated by (i) the development of the Nigeria National Development Plan 2021-2025, the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2023-2027, the WHO functional review, and most recently, the WHOs 5 priorities (promote health, provide health, protect health, power health, and perform for health. ) to accelerate achievement of the SDGs within the extended GPW13.

I am confident that this strategic stakeholders’ engagement will come up with new realities for joint strategic health agenda for WHO’s technical cooperation in Nigeria in the next five years so that jointly, we will promote health, provide health, protect health, power health, and perform for health,” Mulombo stated.