“STRENGTHENING GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIPS AND ADVOCACY FOR PRIMARY HEALTH CARE (PHC) (SPAG) PROJECT”
Background
Nigeria’s health sector is rich with several polices and legal frameworks designed to improve Nigeria’s health system outcomes and fast track progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC). These policies and legal frameworks were designed to strengthen the country’s capacity to provide quality health care services to Nigerians. However, most of these are fraught with several forms of implementation challenges across all levels. For instance, The National Assembly passed the National Health Act (NHACT) and was signed into law by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in 2014. The National Health Act encompasses various provisions relating to Nigeria’s health system including an innovative health care financing mechanism – the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) which was not appropriated for or implemented until 2018. Even then, the fund is yet to be fully implemented.
The Legislative Initiative for Sustainable Development (LISDEL) as part of its mission to improve delivery and expand coverage of quality healthcare to all Nigerians is implementing the Strengthening government partnership and advocacy for primary health care (SPAG) Project at the Federal and in Lagos, Kaduna and Gombe States. The eighteen months project is targeted at delivering on Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child Health + Nutrition (RMNCAH + N) to optimize primary health care outcomes. The Project will build salience and leverage champions and platforms to institutionalize existing frameworks and policies like the BHCPF and Primary Health Care Under One Roof (PHCUOR) etc.
Implementation of these policies will be improved by strengthening partnerships with policy makers and key government stakeholders and facilitating targeted capacity building, establishing accountability mechanisms, and strengthening advocacy efforts. This investment will also apply a gender lens to identify new voices within target government stakeholder groups and elevate those voices for PHC advocacy through existing platforms.
Primary Outcomes/Results
The primary outcomes of the project are:
- Improved government awareness, oversight, accountability, and implementation of the BHCPF in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health and other government partners
- Improved salience and capacity of policy makers and government stakeholders to effectively influence health systems strengthening efforts including BHCPF
- Improved inclusion of new voices and champions, particularly women, to drive PHC advocacy priorities within government platforms
The project is multi-inclusive involving collaboration, partnership, and action of a wide range of stakeholders with particular focus to improve public accountability and communication outcomes for PHC policy implementation in Nigeria. The SPAG Project will also facilitate the establishment or revival of mechanisms, enhance capacities of actors for policy implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.
Approach
LISDEL will leverage on its wide-partner base – working with CSOs and media organizations to develop advocacy plans and launch strategic advocacy campaigns and outreaches based on issues and priorities identified across the different locations. Various advocacy briefs, factsheets, informatics etc. will be developed and disseminated through inclusive processes, while policy dialogues will be held to chart consensus paths towards achieving the project’s strategic objectives.
Our work with partners, CSOs and media will also facilitate the development of an integrated accountability/tracking mechanism and implementation of existing M&E frameworks for the BHCPF.
The Project will also support the Federal Ministry of Health to develop and implement a knowledge management and communication plan for the BHCPF. These are strategic to build public awareness, improve communication, knowledge and learning and facilitate accountability, transparency, and efficiency of the BHCPF.
LISDEL through the SPAG Project will also enhance salience and capacities of key government stakeholders in the legislative arm of government to effectively apply their statutory functions towards achieving health system strengthening objectives and UHC across the project’s focal locations. The Project will also strengthen accountability mechanisms through the development and use of existing of legislative tools.
The SPAG project will scope and identify new voices, particularly women, who are in leadership positions and build their understanding of, and advocacy capacity to champion PHC and RMNCAH-N priorities.
Women are a majority at the receiving end of inadequate healthcare and the poor health indices and outcomes both at the national and local levels. Due to the peculiar health needs of women, the need to strengthen the system in other to achieve equity and women’s inclusion has become imperative. The new voices and champions who will be drawn from the legislature, executive, CSOs, media and across all government divides and platforms will lead advocacy campaigns to key government stakeholders to reduce maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent morbidity and mortality in Nigeria; and promote universal access to comprehensive MCH, sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents and adults throughout their life cycle.
Enhancing Salience and Capacity of the Health Committees of National Assembly to Catalyze National Progress towards UHC
The health of Nigerians is very important and if able to take care of the health needs of all Nigerians, that will be one of the big pillars well taken care of, and a healthier nation will certainly be able to move forward faster. UHC is a critical component of sustainable development and poverty reduction, and a key element of any effort to reduce social inequities. UHC has a direct impact on a population’s health and welfare. Financial risk protection prevents sick individuals and their families from being pushed into poverty when they have to pay for health services out of their own pockets. UHC is the hallmark of a government’s commitment to improve the wellbeing of all its citizens. UHC requires health systems to be functional and effective, offering services that are widely available and of good quality.
The overall purpose of the workshop was to:
To deepen understanding of the legislature on Health Financing, UHC and PHC objectives and policies.
To enhance the understanding of legislative functions and enhance the application of these functions to ensure the expansion of health financial risk protection mechanisms to target populations.
To gather knowledge and use of information to develop implementable processes, tools, frameworks, strategic Legislative Health Agenda and work plans in the application of legislative functions towards health care strengthening; and
To track progress on past commitments made by legislators to promote UHC and articulate plans to implement pending commitments.
The two-day workshop, which was in-person participation was held on the 4th and 5th of April, 2022 at RockView Hotel, Wuse 2 Abuja, with a total of 40 in-person participants. The workshop consisted of presentations, discussions, plenaries and group work sessions.
COLLATED NEWS FROM OTHER SOURCES
- Lawmakers, Stakeholders Harp On Universal Health coverage. Apr 5, 2022
The Legislative Initiative for Sustainable Development (LISDEL), is a non-governmental platform with a mandate to enhance the capacity of key stakeholders to effectively influence health system strengthening efforts towards achieving Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria
The intervention which is targeted at health committee members in the legislature is expected to enhance the application of their roles and functions towards the expansion of health financial risk protection mechanisms to vulnerable populations in the country
Addressing participants at a 2-day workshop organised by LISDEL in Abuja, the Chairman Senate Committee on Health, Sen Ibrahim Oloriegbe said it presents opportunity to put the issue of health in the front burner for prompt action.
Other speakers in their remarks emphasised on the role and relevance of primary healthcare to enhancing UHC in Nigeria
The theme of the 2-day workshop is “Enhancing Salience and Capacity of Health Committee of the National Assembly to Catalyse National Progress towards UHC”.
- Lawmakers, Stakeholders Harp On Universal Health coverage. (April 5, 2022)
https://channelnetworkafrique.com/?p=10012
- LISDEL Collaborates with Legislators to Attain Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria
Legislative Initiative for Sustainable Development (LISDEL), on Monday announced its collaboration with Legislators, designed to attain universal health coverage in Nigeria.
LISDEL unveiled the partnership at a two-day capacity building programme, with the theme “Enhancing Salience and Capacity of Health Committee of National Assembly to Catalyse Progress towards UHC”.
The programme is organised by LISDEL, an indigenous not-for-profit organization, and partners.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that as part of its mission to support the strengthening of health systems efforts in Nigeria, with support from partners, LISDEL is collaborating with the Legislative Network for Universal Health Coverage (LNUHC) to enhance UHC in Nigeria.
This intervention is part of the objectives of the “Strengthening Government Partnerships and Advocacy for PHC (SPAG) Project” being implemented by LISDEL at the national and state levels.
The event is targeted at key stakeholders in the legislature to enhance the application of their roles and functions to ensure the expansion of health financial risk protection mechanisms to vulnerable populations in the country.
It includes the following objectives: Review of progress of the legislative health agenda/work plan and priorities resolved to be achieved at the inception of the current Assembly; identify approaches to mitigate challenges; and to set new priorities based on the outcomes of the tracking process.
Enhance the knowledge of clerks and health committee secretaries around broad health financing and UHC concepts, linked to existing reforms in Nigeria, including the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) and how their roles can strengthen their implementations.
In an address of welcome, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Convener of the Legislative Network for Universal Health Coverage (LNU), Sen. Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe, said that the legislators have gathered to apply their statutory functions of legislation, appropriation, oversight “accountability” and representation to raise health high on the agenda of government.
Oloriegbe noted that the two-day capacity building programme would provide critical interventions for legislative action that would support attainment of UHC in the country.
Dr Francis Ukwuije, Health Economist, World Health Organization (WHO), said that UHC means that all people must have access to the health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship.
Ukwuije said this includes the full range of essential health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care.
“The goals of UHC are to ensure that all people can access quality health services, to safeguard all people from public health risks, and to protect all people from impoverishment due to illness, whether from out-of-pocket payments for health care or loss of income when a household member falls sick.
“Low levels of entitlements, large healthcare inequality, limited financial protection and poor portability are deemed as major challenges in the progress of UHC,” he explained.
Dr David Olayemi, Consultant Specialist on PHC, said that the principles of any PHC are accessibility, public participation, health promotion, appropriate technology and intersectoral cooperation.
Olayemi said that accessibility means that the five types of health care are universally available to all Nigerians regardless of their geographical location.
He stated that community participation means that Nigerians are encouraged to participate in making decisions about their own health, in identifying the health needs of their community, and in considering the merits of alternative approaches to addressing those needs.
He stressed that health promotion involves health education, nutrition, sanitation, maternal and child health care, immunization, prevention and control of disease.
“The goal of health promotion is to reduce the demands for curative and rehabilitative care.
“Appropriate technology means that modes of care are appropriately adapted to the community’s social, economic, and cultural development.
“Intersectoral cooperation recognizes that health and well-being are linked to both economic and social policy as Intersectoral cooperation is needed to establish national and local health goals, healthy public policy, and the planning and evaluation of health services,” he added.
In her welcome address, Mrs Juliana Abude-Aribo, Executive Director, LISDEL, said that the objective of the capacity building programme is to deepen understanding of the legislators on health financing, UHC, and PHC objectives and policies.
Abude-Aribo said this is also to enhance the understanding of legislative functions and enhance the application of these functions to ensure the expansion of health financial risk protection mechanisms to target population.
She added that the capacity building would also gather knowledge and use of information to develop implementable processes, tools, framework, strategic legislative health agenda and work plans in the application of legislative functions towards health care strengthening.
The Executive Director stated that this would track progress in past commitments made by legislators to promote UHC and articulate plans to implement pending commitments.
(NAN) By News Agency Report -04/04/2022
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- LISDEL collaborates with Legislators to attain Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria