PREAMBLE:
Civil Society Legislative Advocacy
Centre (CISLAC) with support from Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family
Health (PACFaH) organized a 2-day training on budget tracking for media champions
in child and family health. The training aims at bringing reputable media
champions advocating for, and demanding accountability in child and family
health in Nigeria, under one roof for a training on effective process for
tracking and monitoring child and family health (Nutrition, Routine
Immunisation, Family Planning and Childhood killer diseases) budget. The
meeting drew about 30 participants from various media outfits. It featured Mrs.
Chinwe Onumonu, Mr. Sunday Okoronkwo, Ndidi Chukwu, Mr. David Akpotor, and Mr. Oluseun
Onigbinde as the lead presenters. After exhaustive deliberations on various
thematic issues, the following observations and recommendations were made:
1. Although up to 33% of
maternal deaths can be prevented through family planning, in Nigeria, no fewer
than 111 women and young girls die daily from conditions associated with
pregnancy and childbirth.
2. Family planning remains a
sensitive socio-cultural and religious issue, and consequently stalling
effective awareness creation on child spacing, especially in the Northern part
of Nigeria.
3. The existing National Blue
Print on Family Planning cannot be effectively implemented across the states
without appropriate consideration for its suitability to local context.
4. Inadequate capacity by
civil society groups and the media to jointly advocate for sustainable routine
immunization, and provide feedback on the effectiveness of routine immunization
progammes and finances.
5. Low media coverage and
reportage on issues affecting sustainable finances for routine immunization has
resulted in poor individual and policy awareness of the importance of
sustainable immunization to child and family health.
6. In February 2016, six Northern
states—Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi, Katsina, Sokoto and Yobe signed a tripartite
agreement with developmental partners, reiterating their commitments to fund
provision for sustainable routine immunization.
7. While child malnutrition
features in stunting, wasting, macro-nutrient deficiencies, and overweight,
North West remains the worst hit by wasting and stunting burden standing at 27%
and 57%, respectively in the country.
8. Inadequate funding,
inconsistency in the budgetary allocation and release, and the delayed
domestication and implementation of National Strategic Plan of Action on
Nutrition (NSPAN) are endemic challenges to efforts at eradicating malnutrition
in Nigeria.
9. As no fewer than 400, 000
children die annually from pneumonia and diarrheal diseases in Nigeria,
adoption and implementation of global recommendations and guidelines for
treatments of pneumonia and diarrhea are restricted by lack of political will
and specific budget lines at all levels.
10. In Nigeria, Pneumonia and
Diarrhoea are responsible for 16% and 19% deaths, respectively of Under-5
mortality.
11. The key parameters for
consideration in budget tracking and reporting include the existing
macro-economic environment, inflation rate, GDP growth and exchange rate.
12. Weak supervision of the
nation’s procurement price standard and process has paved way for persistent
alteration and unrealistic inflation of prices by government institutions.
13. Lack of political
commitment to transparency and accountability in the budgetary processes, and
weak systemic capacity to effectively interrogate the new Zero-Based Budget.
14. Documented evidence to inform
exhaustive budget tracking, analysis and reporting are pre-budget statement,
proposed budget, appropriated budget, citizens’ budget, In-year report, and
audit report.
15. Effective analysis and reportage
of child and family health budget must consider direct impact to wide variety
of audience like technical experts, active and inactive literate citizens, and
the grassroots.
Recommendations
1. Massive awareness creation
on the appropriate compliance to the required medical procedures in
administering family planning services to secure individuals’ confidence and
acceptance.
2. Providing appreciable
access to family planning services through adequate budget provision, fulfilled
government’s commitment (London Summit) to family planning related issues.
3. Adopting the National Blue
Print on Family Planning to reflect the local or state context to promote
effective implementation across the country.
4. Adequate
fund provision for routine immunization at all levels through private sector
involvement, local production of some vaccine, and creation of transparent
Routine Immunisation Trust Fund.
5. Exploring
routine immunisation landscape through persistent, exhaustive and strategic
media coverage and reportage.
6. Enhanced media advocacy to
secure full-fledged political commitment to the implementation of National
Health Act, 2014 to save lives of mothers and children.
7. Creation of specific
budget line on nutrition across relevant institutions, encourage exclusive
breastfeeding, adoption and effective implementation of the costed NSPAN at all
levels to combat endemic malnutrition in the country.
8. Prompt release and
effective management of budgeted funds to promote accountability and
transparency in government spending on nutrition.
9. Adoption and
implementation of the recommendations and guidelines by United Nations
Commission on Life-Saving Commodities to combat and mitigate the rising death
of children from pneumonia and diarrhea in the country.
10. Local production of less
expensive and affordable commodities (Amoxicillin Dispersible tablet and
Zinc/LO-ORS) to increase accessibility by communities combating pneumonia and
diarrhea.
11. Creation of specific budget
line to tackle pneumonia and diarrhea, adequate awareness at all levels, appropriate
personal hygiene, and revised guidelines to reflect current global
recommendations.
12. Accessing and utilizing
states’ specific data to inform evidence-based advocacy by the media to
effectively demand accountability for appropriate policy decision on child and
family health.
13. Understanding political direction
and perception to the fundamental components of budget with clearly defined
benefit to effectively track, monitor, and communicate budgetary allocation to
child and family health in publicly acceptable manner.
14. Well-informed qualitative
and quantitative data generation from community perspectives with specific
understanding of the current policy financial projection like Zero-Based Budget
to track, analyse and appropriately report price standardization and
justification for particular budget line item.
15. Constitutional amendment
to legalise openness in budgetary processes and active involvement of media and
CSOs to track approval and judicious utilization of budgetary allocation to child
and family health, to justify the extent of policy transparency and
accountability.
Conclusion
The participants expressed
appreciations to CISLAC/PACFaH for embarking on the training channeled towards building
their capacity on budget tracking in child and family health. Participants
expressed gratitude to the organizers, noting that the engagement was revealing
and indeed an opportunity to begin to engage budgetary processes. They demonstrated
willingness to continue monitoring, tracking and reporting budget as related to
Nutrition, Routine Immunisation, Family Planning, and Childhood killer diseases
in their respective states.
Signed:
Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani)
Executive
Director, CISLAC
Mairo
Mohammed Taheer
Kaduna State
Media Corporation
Abubakar Usman Akwanga
NTA, Nasarawa State
Momso
Damien Dati
NTA, Niger State
Salisu Yusuf
Health Reporter, Kano State
Mohammed Ibrahim
Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria,
Bauch State
Chioma Umeha
News Watch Time Newspapers, Lagos State
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