National Health Council Approves New Policy

Posted on: Sat 10-09-2016

The national Council on Health, the highest policy making body on matters relating to health in Nigeria, has approved the new National Health Policy (NHP). The council, which comprises the Commissioners for Health of the 36 states, the Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretariat FCT, has the Honourable Minister of Health as its Chairman.

At yesterday’s emergency meeting, which preceded the 59th National Council on Health, the Honourable Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, presented the policy document, which was deliberated upon and later, approved by the high powered gathering.

In his keynote address, the Minister noted that through deep introspection and deliberation on both the successes and challenges in the health sector, he became convinced that “there is a need for a new national policy on health to reflect new realities and trends, including the unfinished agenda of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emerging health issues, especially epidemics.

The minister urged state governors to allocate at least 15 per cent of their annual budget to the health sector in line with Abuja declaration, for the implementation of National Health Policy.

He said the Federal Government is going to allocate at least one per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the establishment of the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund as provided by National Health Act 2014. He called on state governors to ensure timely release and disbursement of allocated funds for health to achieve the objective of the National Health Policy.

He called on the state governors and health commissioners to explore additional ways of funding the National Health Policy in their various states. He added that both federal and state governments are ready to partner with private individuals to support the health sector.

While imploring wealthy individuals to commit part of their resources to the development of the health sector, he called for widespread dissemination of the policy.

Mr. Adewole, however, advised the state governments to also develop their own Strategic Health Development Plan in line with the new National Health Policy.

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