FG, States Must Take Full Responsibility For Health Reforms — Minister

The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, has said the federal government and state governments must take full responsibility for sustaining Nigeria’s health reforms, stressing that development partners cannot permanently carry the burden of improving the country’s health system.

Pate made the assertion on Monday at a mid-term review of Nigeria’s health reform programme organised by the Nigeria UHC Forum and the Health Sector Reform Coalition, where civil society organisations assessed progress under the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative.

He said the federal government was adopting a new approach to managing the health sector by strengthening coordination among the federal and state governments, development partners and civil society, while ensuring that government remained accountable for health outcomes.

He, however, acknowledged that the reforms would not produce overnight results, noting that rebuilding Nigeria’s health system would take time.

“We had no illusions that it was going to be easy or that all the problems will disappear within a year or two or three or four. We are committed to starting to build the current system that Nigerians deserve,” he said.

On domestic health manufacturing, the minister said investments by private-sector players were increasing, including in the production of diagnostic test kits and other medical commodities.

She said the government was now seeking to ensure that increased domestic production translated into greater affordability and availability of essential health commodities for Nigerians.

Meanwhile, the civil society organisations said Nigeria’s health reforms were moving in the right direction but warned that the gains must be institutionalised and translated into measurable improvements in the lives of citizens.

In their mid-term position, the CSOs said the major test of the reforms was not the number of policies introduced or health facilities renovated, but whether Nigerians were experiencing better access to quality and affordable healthcare.

They said the country continued to face significant challenges, including high out-of-pocket expenditure, delayed release of health funds, fragmented financing and dependence on external funding.

The CSOs also raised concerns over persistent gaps in maternal and child health, immunisation, nutrition and family planning.

They noted that the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey 2023–24 showed that although 79 per cent of women received antenatal care from a skilled provider, only 43 per cent had four or more antenatal visits, while just 50 per cent of live births were assisted by a skilled provider.

The groups further noted that only 39 per cent of children aged 12–23 months were fully vaccinated with basic antigens, while 14 per cent received no vaccination.

They called for stronger accountability in health financing, urging government to ensure that appropriated funds were released on time and that resources could be tracked from allocation to the facility level.

The CSOs also demanded that primary healthcare reforms move beyond the renovation of facilities to ensuring that facilities had health workers, essential medicines, diagnostics, electricity, water, infection prevention systems and functional referral mechanisms.

They called for the alignment of health policies and programmes with the National Health Act 2014 and proposed a National Health Act Alignment and Implementation Matrix to identify gaps, clarify institutional responsibilities and establish timelines for implementation.