A COALITION of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) under
the aegis of the Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health (PACFaH)
has expressed concern over the inadequacy of the 2016 budgetary proposal for
the country’s health sector.
In a 2016 pre-appropriation health budget analysis, issued by
the national coordinator, Dr. Judith-Ann Walker, and made available to The
Guardian, it was observed that the total of N257,382,151,746.00 being proposed
for the Ministry of Health is inadequate to achieve the desired goal of
ensuring the wellbeing of the citizenry.
PACFaH member and head of the Civil Society Legislative
Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Mr. Auwal Rafsanjani, noted that over the years,
Nigeria has witnessed inadequate allocation to the health sector, stressing:
“There is no way a nation would be well when the health sector is neglected.
And that is why we are saying the government should do something because a lot
of people are dying, due to poor funding of the health sector. We call on the National
Assembly to increase the budgetary allocation and ensure effective oversight of
the budgetary allocation.”
Calling on the authorities to ensure adequate financing for
the four key areas in child and family health (routine immunization; nutrition;
family planning and essential medicines to stop under-5 diarrhea and pneumonia)
before the 2016 budget is passed into law, PACFH maintains that if nothing is
done to redress the problem associated with poor funding of the health sector,
the current developmental framework captured in the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) comprising 17 Goals and 169 targets, would not be attained.
Source: The Guardian Newspaper
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