LISDEL Partners with Lagos State House of Assembly to Fast-Track UHC

The Legislative Initiative for Sustainable Development (LISDEL) as part of interventions to strengthen the health sector is partnering with the Lagos State House of Assembly to build salience and capacities of the House to catalyze progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Lagos State and Nigeria in general.

While some progress has been made, gaps still exist in terms of provision of and access to quality healthcare delivery. Some of these include the high rate of out-of-pocket expenditure for health and inadequate funding and investment in the health sector.

To enhance the capacity of the Lagos State House of Assembly to positively influence health system strengthening objectives, and fill the existing gaps, LISDEL partnered Lagos State House of Assembly to organize a 2-day workshop.

The event which held on the 7^th and 8^th of April, 2022 at De-Rembrandt Hotel, Ikeja had in participation the Speaker of the House Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, represented by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Eshinlokun Sanni Wasiu; other Principal Officers and other Members of the House of Assembly. Leaders of the various MDAs in the Lagos State Health Ministry as well as other stakeholders also participated.

In their opening remarks and welcome address, the Chairman of the House Committee on Health, Hon. Akeem Shokunle and the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa highlighted various roles of the Legislature for development objectives and emphasized the support LISDEL has provided so far in the drive to achieve UHC both at the national and sub-national levels.

The workshop featured orientation sessions on key health and UHC concepts, groupwork, plenary and evaluation sessions. Dr. Emmanuella Zamba, the Director-General of the Lagos State Health Management Agency (LASHMA) during a technical session provided updates and progresses made as well as challenges in providing financial risk protection to the people of the State through the State’s Health Insurance Scheme and the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF).

She recommended the release of the 1% of the State’s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) for equity payment, strengthening mechanisms to maximize the BHCPF and adoption of constituents by the Legislature for health insurance enrolment.

There were also discussions on gender equity and inclusion, where Lagos’ commitment to ensuring gender equity in policy development and implementation was highlighted.

LISDEL will support the House to continue to implement the legislative Workplan that was developed in 2021 as a roadmap to achieving UHC in the State.

Contributed by Ademuyiwa Damilola, LISDEL