By Precious Mark
Switzerland has backed Nigeria’s stance that sustainable global health security must shift away from external aid and toward self-reliance.
The endorsement came during a bilateral meeting in Abuja on Thursday, where Swiss Minister of Health Elisabeth Baume-Schneider and Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria Patrick Egloff paid a courtesy visit to Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Ali Pate ahead of the 5th Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) coming up this December.
With Nigeria preparing to host the global summit, the discussions centered on reshaping how the world fights superbugs and drug resistance, particularly in developing economies.
Speaking, Pate challenged the status quo of international health aid, asserting that low- and middle-income countries can no longer rely indefinitely on foreign funding to secure their healthcare systems.
He emphasized that the Federal Government is aggressively pushing internal reforms to expand health insurance and mobilize domestic resources.
He explained that Nigeria is prioritizing local pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing to insulate its healthcare system from global supply chain shocks while creating jobs.
“Our objective is not to replace international partnerships, but to ensure they complement, rather than substitute for, nationally owned systems,” Pate stated, adding that sustainable health security will ultimately depend on stronger domestic institutions, financing, and manufacturing capacity.
Echoing similar sentiments, Baume-Schneider validated Nigeria’s approach, acknowledging that antimicrobial resistance is a cross-border crisis that cannot be solved with a one-size-fits-all strategy.
She reaffirmed Switzerland’s commitment to supporting multilateral cooperation, research innovation, and healthcare workforce development that respects national ownership.
As part of a long-term strategy to sustain these reforms, both nations agreed that the fight against drug resistance must begin in the classroom. The ministers called on universities and training institutions to urgently upgrade their curricula, ensuring the next generation of scientists, researchers, and pharmaceutical manufacturers are equipped to handle evolving public health threats.
To tackle the immediate crisis, Pate noted that Nigeria has already deployed a unified One Health framework, breaking down silos to connect the healthcare, agriculture, livestock, environment, and water resources sectors in a synchronized defense against antimicrobial resistance.