By Mary Jalingo
The Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, Alhaji Ahmed Marafa has assured residents of the state of a robust budgetary allocation for the health sector in the 2017 budget.
The speaker stated this when he received a FOMWAN -PACFaH delegation when they paid an advocacy visit to the state House of Assembly complex in Minna, the state capital.
He said the House has considered as a matter of great interest and concern to make the health sector so robust by increasing the budgetary provision through a radical approach to girl-child education and see how best to reduce infant mortality rate in the state.
He added that the state is working hard to make sure that every Local Government Area in the state has a General Hospital and every ward a primary healthcare centers aimed at alleviating the suffering of the people especially those at rural areas.
The speaker added that even with the challenges faced by the present government in terms of finance, they are ready to make budgetary provision that can empower the executive to do certain projects that would have positive impact on citizens.
Speaking earlier, the state Chairperson, FOMWAN/PACFaH, Dr. Fati Sheikh Abdullah, said the PACFaH project work to solicit government interventions in four key areas of child and family health, management of childhood killer disease, family planning, immunization and nutrition.
Dr. Fati said according to the Nigeria Demographic Health Survey 2013, out of the 195,000 annual life birth figure for state, 19,000 die before their fifth birthday, he added that research has shown that Pneumonia and diarrhea are responsible for 24 per cent of the under 5 death in the state.
She said from the 2015 immunization checklist, none of the LGAs in the state received funds for its immunization activities neither did funds budgeted for the state primary healthcare development release making the agency to rely on donors support to implement activities.
She noted that the health budget of the state has remain low adding that investment in the health sector is the best buy for overcoming the current economic recession in the country.
