NAN moves to deploy modern communication facilities to promote PACFaH Advocacy

By Abubakar Jimoh

Members of PACFaH with management  of NAN (from left: 2nd, 4th, 6th & 8th) during the visit in Lagos

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has said it would deploy its vibrant communication facilities and strategies to support Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health (PACFaH) in the coalition’s ongoing advocacy to identify and encourage decision makers on innovative strategies and mechanisms to forecast funding needs for effective child and family health in Nigeria.

This was made known by the Head of Lagos Operations, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr. Joe Bankole, while receiving members of PACFaH led by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), during an advocacy visit to the Agency in Lagos on Wednesday.

Bankole said the Agency has the mandate to serve the public and promote such important group as PACFaH through its enabling network and facilities, urging members of the coalition to make maximum use of the facilities in their advocacy for child and family health in the country.

Speaking during the visit, Program Manager, CISLAC, Chioma Kanu, explained that PACFaH is a partnership of eight (8) Nigerian NGOs working together to encourage government, at national and state levels, to identify innovative mechanisms to provide adequate funding for four (4) important areas in child and family health such as Routine Immunization, Family Planning, management of childhood killer diseases, and Nutrition. 

She observed that low priority for the four issues have intensified maternal and child mortality in the country. The Program Manager reiterated that Nigeria is ranked second globally in malnutrition, calling for robust media advocacy to prompt effective implementation of National Strategic Plan of Action (NSPAN) and creation of budget line on nutrition at all levels.  The documents according to her, has identified nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions with measurable targets to be achieved in its five-year costed plans.

“Malnourished children have an increased risk of disability and premature death and are highly predisposed to infectious diseases. Nigeria has one of the highest burdens of malnutrition in Africa and globally. We are calling on government to implement the NSPAN, with focus on maternal and child nutrition component of the plan; promptly and timely release of funds for maternal and child nutrition; and increase accountability and management of released funds at all levels,” Kanu urged.

Also, the Chairman, Association for the Advancement of Family Planning (AAFP), Dr. Ejike Oji, lamented that childhood killer diseases have become prevalent in the country for lack adequate care for the children, owing to persistent death of mothers during or after child birth. He explained that a woman’s ability to space limit her pregnancies has a direct impact on her health and well-being as well as the outcome of each pregnancy.

The Chairman reiterated that Family Planning has direct impacts on the health of the family and grossly the economy of a nation as a whole. He urged the media to place fund mobilization for family planning in the front burner of public discourse, stressing sustained analyses of the strategic contents of the Nigeria Family Planning Blueprint and the Costed Implementation Plans.

“We advise federal government to: provide adequate required funds for FP commodity procurement as recommended in the Nigeria Family Planning Blueprints; sustain the existing Free Family Planning Commodity Policy in all public health facilities; ensure uninterrupted supply of consumables, particularly to the poor women in the communities; and judicious utilization of funds allocated for procurement of Family Planning commodities and consumables,” he added.

Calling for strategic media advocacy in the management of childhood killer diseases, Dr. Oji also stated that pneumonia and diarrheal diseases remain the major killers of children, with no fewer than 2.1 million Under-5 years and neonatal deaths occurring in Nigeria in 2014. He maintained that Nigeria signed into 15 essential commodities in the United Nations Commission on Life-Saving Commodities (UNCoLSC) recommendations, among which three are itemized for the survival of the Under-5 death. In his words, the recommended commodities for the survival of the Under-5 include: Amoxicillin antibiotic in dispersible tablet form (amoxicillin DT) as first line treatment in the management of childhood killer pneumonia disease; and Zinc and Oral Rehydration Salt Solution (Zn/ORS) both for the treatment of childhood diarrheal disease.

The Chairman urged the media to intensify advocacy to the Nigerian Government to adopt, implement and scale-up the joint WHO/UNICEF revised guidelines and the United Nations Commission on Life-Saving Commodities (UNCoLSC) recommendation on Childhood Pneumonia by listing Amoxicillin dispersible tablet as the First Line Drug for the management of the disease in the Standard Treatment Guidelines and the Essential Medicines List which are currently undergoing revision.

He further charged the media Agency to advocate to the relevant Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies such as the Ministry of Health, Finance, Economic Planning, and Accountant General to create specific budget lines for the quantification and procurement of the recommended commodities (Amoxicillin DT, and Zinc/LO-ORS) at all levels.

Giving the states’ specific cases of fund mobilization for Family Planning, the Snr. Progam Officer, Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria (HERFON), Aanu Rotimi, said that although Oyo state has made considerable progress in health, socio-cultural and economic development, however, some key indicators have raised alarm over increased in maternal mortality in the state from 135 per 100, 000 live births to 143 per 100, 000 in 2010. She observed huge gaps in the demand and supply of Family Planning services, which would have helped reducing unplanned pregnancies and the risks associated with unsafe abortions, thereby reducing maternal mortality in the state.

She said: “Oyo state has adopted many existing national health policies including Reproductive Health Policy, but implementation of these policies as a result of inadequate and non-release of fund allocated to Family Planning has been a major challenge in the state. Also in Kaduna state, legislative and executive institutions have been creating bottlenecks and significant barriers in the process of budgetary allocation and release due to poor understanding of the relevance of family planning in socio-economic development.”

Similarly, Snr. Program Officer, Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR) Ndidi Chukwu stressed that following the pronouncement by World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring Nigeria free of polio virus, Routine Immunisation has faced several challenges arising from imminent shortage of funding for vaccines, inadequate budget allocation, delay and piecemeal release of funds for RI, and poor capacity of civil society organizations to work together to monitor and provide feedback on the effectiveness of RI programs and finances.

She charged the media on joint advocacy to demand accountability for adequate funding for Routine Immunization both at national and state level; and Nigerian government on immunization vaccine procurement increase and timely release of funds allocated for 2016 and 2017.

“We urge the media on prioritized reports to raise awareness on the need domestic funding by Nigerian Government to sustain Routine Immunization and avert resurgence of polio virus. As Nigeria graduates from GAVI support by 2022, the media can ask the Government on its preparedness to fund RI and how it can take leadership, commitment and capacity to identify and plan for sustainable sources of funding for RI beyond 2022,” Chukwu requested.