Firm reinvigorates “Make Naija Stronger” healthcare programme

A healthcare outfit called One.org Foundation has relaunched healthcare intervention initiative called “Make Naija Stronger” (MNS).

According to a press release made available to Vanguard and signed by Innocent Edache, spokesperson for one.org, it stated that the MNS campaign has been ONE’s flagship campaign in Nigeria since 2016, adding that after 3 years of advocacy alongside civil society organizations within the health space, President Muhammadu Buhari on the 20th of June, 2018, signed into law, the 2018 Appropriation Bill that contained N55.15 billion in funding for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF).

Edache disclosed that the BHCPF was designed to address Nigeria’s terrible performance across several health indices by delivering basic health services to Nigerians through selected primary health centers (PHCs) across the country.

“The BHCPF has since been launched as Huwe, to be implemented by the Federal Ministry of Health (FMH), National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and State governments which are essential stakeholders at varying stages of BHCPF implementation.

“At the start of 2020, there were encouraging signs that we would see extensive progress on Huwe implementation across Nigeria. Most states were starting to meet requirements for participation in the programme and ONE visited facilities in Osun State that had started to render services to citizens through the BHCPF program in February,” stated Edache.

He however added that the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the Federal Government to impose lockdowns across the country and focus the country’s public health resources on a concerted response aimed at preventing the spread of the virus.

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According to him, “this action, while necessary and commendable, meant that the Federal Ministry of Health and other BHCPF implementers took their focus off the implementation. There was also a loss of momentum with ONE supporters and champions on the campaign.”

“With Nigeria coming out of lockdown and regular activities of government resuming, it has become imperative to recapture momentum behind the successful implementation of BHCPF across the country.

“In order to do this, ONE relaunched MNS on the 15th of April with the following objectives that include reestablishing BHCPF implementation as a priority advocacy issue among supporters and citizens, re-engaging citizens in the process of securing successful BHCPF implementation by arming them with tools for monitoring and pressuring state governments  this issue among other things,” concludes Edache.