Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, says he wants the present administration to be
remembered for expanding healthcare delivery to more Nigerians to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
He said this during the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) ministerial forum in Abuja.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), UHC means that all people have access to the health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship.
Achieving UHC is one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals target by 2030.
The minister, however, said he was not sure if up to 50 per cent of Nigeria’s population are presently covered, so,
expanding coverage would really be a plus for the present administration.
“So, healthcare services should reach everywhere and the quality should continue to improve for Nigerians to have confidence in our health system.
“Doctors should also be proud of working in our country and don’t think that they need to go abroad by all means to be happy.
“So, we want to get that right and that is what the administration wants to be recognised for.
“The president himself has made election promises to people and they will also be happy with what he has been able to deliver under his own regime because what we are doing we are doing in his name,” he added.
On meeting the set goals and budget for Family Planning (FP), Ehanire said that government was playing its own part as agreed with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
According to him, there is an agreement with the Fund on what government is to put forward and government has been doing that.
“We are playing our own part. The Ministry of Finance has been very cooperative in releasing the funds. Infact, we are preparing to go to a meeting that will be addressing family planning issues to move contraceptive prevalence rate higher from what it is now to 70 per cent upwards.
“So, we hope that with that conference we encourage partners to continue. We will first of all tell them how far we are going for them to continue to give the support that they are giving so that we can have the results that we are looking for.”
NAN reports that Nigeria formally launched National FP2030 Commitment in March 2022, having been one of the original FP2030 commitment makers in 2012.
With this, government pledged to strengthen the integration of Family Planning into the country’s socio-economic framework, including UHC.
The government has further committed to increasing financing for Family Planning by allocating one per cent of the national and states’ health budgets annually to sexual and reproductive health.(NAN)
