From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other stakeholders in the health sector have advocated improved funding for maternal and child health care.
The experts, who came together to discuss the challenges facing Nigeria’s healthcare financing at a workshop and stakeholders’ engagement on budgeting and financing of Primary Healthcare and maternal and child health, organised by Development Governance International (DGI) Consult, with funding from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), stressed the need to prioritise and address the critical gaps identified through the research findings. They emphasised the critical need for increased and sustained investment in the health sector to strengthen PHC service delivery.
In his opening remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of DGI Consult, Dr Gafar Alawode, explained that the objective was to disseminate key findings from the public health expenditure analysis, advocating increased investments in priority areas.
Also, in his welcome address, a health specialist at UNICEF, Dr Sachin Bhokare, explained the need to ensure that every Nigerian, particularly women, children, and the most vulnerable, has access to quality, affordable and equitable health care.
He noted that the event served as a platform to disseminate findings from the budget analysis, celebrate progress made, identify persistent challenges, and deliberate on practical, evidence-based strategies to strengthen public health financing.
Bhokare emphasized that the workshop was an opportunity to align priorities, renew commitments at the sub-national level, and take concrete actions to ensure that budgetary allocations lead to tangible, measurable improvements in health outcomes, particularly in maternal, new-born, and child health.