By Asma’u Ahmad
The Federal Government has urged Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to always give situation reports on health service delivery in hospitals and other health facilities, to assist government ensure quality service delivery.
Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole gave this task at the 2016 National Summit on Maternal, Newborn Child and Adolescent Health in Abuja.
Represented by Director of Family Health, Dr. Wapada Balami, the minister said government believes that reporting the conducts of medical personnel would improve the quality of service delivery during child birth and post natal period.
He added that government recognized the critical role of CSOs, academia, media and other stakeholders in holding the government responsible to account for health outcomes.
According to him, government will engage stakeholders to ensure their participation in developing plans, programmes, monitoring and review of health policies.
The 2016 National Summit has the theme ‘Health Accountability in Post 2015: How Nigeria can Ensure Healthy Lives and Wellbeing of its Citizens’.
Professor Adewole stated that the global community has transited from Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the end of 2015 to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
He said: “The updated global strategy will run from 2016 to 2030 and it includes adolescents, because they are central to the overall success of 2030 agenda. The SDGs as adopted by all countries need concerted efforts to meet the goals, especially in Nigeria.”
“The interventions needs to be costed and resources harnessed to meet the country’s set goal. Our present maternal mortality ratio of 576 per 100,000 live births from the 2013 National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) is a far cry from the global target.
The minister of health said there is need to reduce the ratio by a minimum of 88 per cent in the next 15 years.
In her keynote address, Minister of Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed said for Nigeria to achieve the SDGs by 2030, it needs to quickly improve on economic growth and education, among others.
She said that all these would improve the well being of people, adding that basic healthcare should be made accessible to every nook and cranny of the country.
