By Ndidi Chukwu
Kaduna State Government is among the lead for state ownership of health care development in Nigeria. The Executive Governor of the State, Mallam Nasir Ahmed Elrufai has committed the sum of 180 million to the State Primary Health Care Development Agency (SPHCDA) in support of the State’s Primary Health Care under One Roof (PHCUOR).
The Governor while receiving some group of civil Societies working under the Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health (PACFaH) project in Nigeria on advocacy visit to the State, said the administration is cognisant of the health needs of the people in the state and pledged its commitment towards ensuring that every individual in the state irrespective of tribe, class, or religion gets equal health care attention.
The governor said the primary goal of the administration and its target is “health for all” for indigenes and people living in Kaduna State. Kaduna State Commissioner for Health, Professor Jonathan Nok, who received the PACFaH delegation on behalf of the governor, said PHCUOR was signed by the Executive Governor on the 1st of September 2015, and the Elrufai administration is poised to ensure that Primary Health Care Services in the State gets the required boost.
On the issue of Routine Immunisation and the commitment of the state, he noted that the fund the State Government has already committed to improve Primary Health Care would solve over 88% of the required funding for Routine Immunisation.
He said the whole idea, and goal of the administration is to ensure that no child who is eligible for immunisation is missed, and the state is doing everything to ensure that gaps are bridged, as he encourages every family to comply with the government to be able to deliver good and equitable health care to all. This is part of the promise to the people of Kaduna State who voted the Nasir Elrufai into Government whom he said is committed to redeem the promise.
Nok also informed the CSOs that the State has also signed contract to improve the infrastructures of all PHCs in the State, and has begun the budget process for health using the Zero Budget Principle. The Kaduna State Government according to Nok is currently working on modalities to commence health insurance for all Kaduna indigenes and residents. He went further, to say that the CSOs Technical Assistance is welcome in that regard.
Community Health and Research Initiative, (CHR) a member of PACFaH working on Routine Immunisation has also opened up discussions with the State Government on its Routine Immunisation component and would be working with key stakeholders to advocate for increase budgetary allocation as well as timely release of allocated funds and improved accountability.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, who was also part of the delegates from the Kaduna State Government house who received the PACFaH delegation, expressed optimisms on the results stipulated for Routine Immunisation, Maternal Health, and Health Insurance coverage in the State before 2019 that the tenure of the new administration will elapse.
The partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health (PACFaH) in Nigeria is a social accountability project implemented through the strategy of partnership building of indigenous CSOs, champions and activists to catalyze government at national and state levels in Nigeria to fulfill commitments on child and family health.
