Healthcare: WHO Suggests Ways Nigeria Can Meet 2030 SDG Targets

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The World Health Organization (WHO) has advised the government to reconsider the mode of implementation of policies and programmes meant to address various challenges in the health sector.

It said that government should take urgent steps to further strengthen the health system and to attract the needed investments to enable citizens have access to affordable healthcare, especially for those living in hard-to-reach areas.

It also said that government should move away from mere pilot projects and ensure holistic execution programmes, adding that the slow pace of implementation of the various health sector reforms may not augur well for the country’s quest to achieve the universal health coverage.

WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo, who gave the advice at the Two-Day Capacity building programme organised by WHO for health journalists in Abuja said with the current level of progress the country definitely needs to move faster with policies and programme implementation in order to get to the projected destination.

He said: “With the current strategy roadmap in place, Nigeria represents a high hope but the key word is acceleration in whatever we do. If we continue at the current pace, we may not reach there.

“It is no longer time for pilot projects. It is time for implementation, quality, skills and speed. It still not too late for many countries like Nigeria and I believe if we pick up very quickly as a community, not just the government and we became deliberate in actions required, we will get there.”

Mulombo cited Nigeria’s ranking of 187th out of 191 countries in healthcare performance as a significant concern. He pointed to factors such as inadequate funding, poorly trained healthcare personnel, and high costs of services as barriers that need immediate attention.

The WHO Scribe also said that one of the things to do so as to quicken the pace of progress are providing right information on interventions that works.
He said that journalists have a pivotal role in driving change by ensuring that the public receives accurate, evidence-based health information, especially in remote areas.

“Journalists are the bridge between the public and the facts, and it is crucial that this bridge is built on the foundation of truth and responsibility,” Dr. Mulombo noted.

The organisation urged the Nigerian journalists to ensure accurate health reporting in view of its impact on health outcomes especially during disease outbreaks and emergencies.

He said emergency situations such as outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, emergencies resulting from humanitarian crisis all create an environment where everyone is now looking inwards for solutions.

He also said that donor countries are presently looking inwards so as to be able to meet their own challenges.

“So, countries are increasingly being requested to rely on their own lean resources because there is economic crisis everywhere. At the same time, we have multiple events of emergencies that require prompt action and these add to the normal development work including the work to achieve the universal health coverage,” he said.

Mulombo added that with the emergence of the digital technology, information and news spread very fast, including fake news and infodemics.
He said that there have been all sorts of infodemics regarding use of vaccines and health commodities in recent times.

“As seen during the COVID-19, infodemics was even more dangerous than the pandemic itself. You as journalists are among our critical partners in that journey at a time we have all sorts of rumors, sometimes you have anti vaccine rumor.

 “You are our critical partner because we rely on you to help with correct information and we need to make sure that every information you convey is backed by proper evidence, ” Mulombo said.

Technical Officer and Coordinator of the One Health Initiative at WHO Nigeria, Dr. Laxmikant Chavan, spoke of the need for the media to create more public awareness on the ravaging impact of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).

Chavan emphasized the critical role of the media in educating the public about the drivers of AMR, including the over prescription of antibiotics, improper completion of treatments, and the misuse of antibiotics in livestock farming.

Another WHO Focal person on Climate Change, Dr. Edwin Isotu Edeh, said that Nigeria will need to scale up activities aimed at achieving greater resilience in citizens’ adaptation to damaging impact of climate change.