30million Nigerians now access quality basic health services via Nigeria State Health Investment Project – NPHCDA
By Deborah Christopher
The Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency(NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib said about 30 million Nigerians now have access to quality health services following the implementation of the Nigeria State Health Investment Project (NSHIP).
Dr Faisal Shuaib who was represented by medical director Dr Nneka Onwu made this known on Wednesday at the NSHIP/AF Closure Workshop in Abuja.
Where he called on stakeholders present at the event to come up with strong ideas and recommendations that will strengthen the primary health care (PHC) service delivery in the country
He however, regretted that the “health outcomes have remained suboptimal in Nigeria despite many years of relatively increasing investments in the Nigerian health system through input financing.
Stating that the NSHIP project of the federal government has brought total turnaround to the country’s health sector
He said “The NSHIP was implemented by over 2,000 health facilities across 113 LGAs in eight (8) States which includes Adamawa, Nasarawa, Ondo, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe which has experienced total transformation and become functional with improved quality service delivery
“This transformation has ensured that about 30 million Nigerians, including women and children, have access to quality basic health services and secondary services for continuum of care.
“The NSHIP was also implemented in selected health facilities across the IDP Camps in Borno State which housed over 2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs)”.
“The outcome which was presented at the Mid Term Review (MTR) meeting in November 2017 revealed remarkable progress on all the five Project Development Objectives (PDO) indicators.
“Total project beneficiaries, number of curative visits by children under-five and, number of proportion of (i) children immunized and (ii) births attended by skilled personnel. In addition, the health facilities in Project states have seen a significant decrease in out-of-pocket spending.
“Indeed, the success of NSHIP implementation has brought about significant policy strengthening and changes in Nigeria especially as regards the PHC system strengthening.
“This includes improvement in infrastructure, human resource for health and as well as accountability. The report of the Impact Evaluation of NSHIP, especially on the coverage and quality of health care service provisions informed the Federal Government’s decision to adopt “decentralization”, a key principle in RBF, for the implementation of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) nationwide”.
