Health Minister Applauds Signed Health Act

              

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health, Fidelis Nwankwo, was in Geneva yesterday for the 68^th World Assembly, and he canvassed the country’s quest to become one of the hubs for the proposed African Centres for Disease Control (CDC).

The African CDC is expected to, among other things, help African countries effectively monitor public health, respond to public health emergencies, address complex health challenges, and build needed capacity. 

The minister noted that Nigeria was putting in place the entire requisite infrastructure for the development of a resilient health system. He gave further details on the implementation of the National Health Act signed into law last year.

 

His word in part reads: “It is therefore with pride that I inform this august assembly that Nigeria now has a National Health Act (NHAct 2014), signed in October last year, and is without doubt, one of the greatest legacies of the President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan administration in the Nigerian Health sector.

“In addition to the strides in Ebola containment, Nigeria remains fully committed to the eradication of poliomyelitis within our borders. We are making unprecedented progress and have successfully interrupted polio transmission in the last 10 months, having recorded zero cases in 2015.

We are poised and committed to stay vigilant and to continue to push our efforts at interrupting polio until it is eradicated from the country. These achievements are in spite of the security challenges we have faced as a nation.

We have deployed innovative and effective methods such as the use of hit and run, immunisation camps etc to come this far. With these challenges being addressed more effectively and unreached population of IDPs now within reach and mingling, we must not only sustain but increase intervention and vigilance. I therefore urge all our partners to continue to support our efforts.”

 “The National Health Act provides the critical framework for the achievement of ‘Universal Health Coverage (UHC).’ The Act provides for the funding of Health Care through innovative sources including ‘the Basic Health Care Provision Fund.’