Nigeria endorses Health Emergency Fund for Africa

Nigeria endorses Health Emergency Fund for Africa

Nigeria has joined other African countries to endorse the proposal for the creation of an African Emergency Health Fund to support countries trapped in sudden disaster.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Linus Awute, told reporters at the weekend in Yamoussoukro during the five-day 61st session of the Africa Regional meeting of the World Health Organisation (WHO) that Nigeria endorsed the principle of the proposal, pending the completion of the modalities for the setting up of the fund.

Awute, who was the leader of Nigeria’s delegation at the meeting said: “We have endorsed the proposal of the meeting, which means we are involved in whatever resolution that will come out of it.’’

Awute said the health fund would assist countries trapped in sudden disaster, which could be natural disasters such as flooding, drought, earthquakes or the outbreak of diseases in some parts of Africa.

Effect of climate change

On the resolutions of the World Health Organisation on actionable plans for mitigating the effect of climate change, Awute said that the effect of climate change was already being felt on health in Africa with the irregularity and volatility of the weather conditions.

According to him, Nigeria endorsed the resolutions of the meeting on the need to pool actions and campaigns that would support countries in handling the consequences of the climate.

“Climate change will erode the gains recorded in the health sector in the past and also pose new challenges and this is what we need to work against’’, he stated.

Millennium Development Goals

The five-day meeting was reported to have reviewed the performance of countries on the health targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

 A statistical report by the WHO at the meeting scored African countries low on all health targets for realising the MDGs by 2015, with Nigeria scoring the lowest in tuberculosis control, maternal and child mortality.

Responding to the low scoring on MDGs, Awute said: “Well, I don’t know of any country that has achieved the MDGs goals yet. The truth must be told that we are on track and doing our very best to be able to also subscribe to the global demand for the realisation of the MDG targets. The whole question of the Africa regional meeting is for countries to share their experiences in key health performances’’, he clarified.

 Limited progress

In his own speech, the Africa Regional Director of WHO, Dr Luis Sambo, said some countries had made progress on the MDG targets, but more effort and financing was still required on the health targets.

“Most countries in the African region have made progress in the new millennium than during the 1990s but they are still not on track to achieve the health and health related MDGs despite the commitments made by governments and partners.This situation stems from low level of implementation of effective interventions, weak health systems and limited progress in addressing the broader social and environmental determinants of health”, Sambo said.

Sambo announced that countries could start making voluntary donations to the Africa Emergency Health Fund, since sudden disasters give little or no signals before striking.

The meeting also saw the launch of the Federation of Africa Public Health Association workers.

NAN/Shakira/Ekata