The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called on ECOWAS member states to allocate resources not only from partners but from national governments to strengthen the health system.
The Deputy Representative, Programme, Dr Rownak Kan, made the appeal on Thursday in Abuja, during the opening ceremony of the West African Health Organisation (WAHO), Forum of Health Partners.
The forum is part of the ongoing 25th Assembly of Health Ministers (AHM) of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Conference which began on Monday.
The forum is with the theme, “The Quality of Health Care in the ECOWAS Region, Determinants and Prospects”.
According to Kan, investing in quality of care is very important to facilitate healthcare delivery to the populace.
“Therefore, we advocate for evidence based practice innovation and accountability and will like to call upon us to commit to investing in quality of care.
“We also need to collaborate across the border as well because there are many opportunities to work together in relation to maternal and newborn health, child health and nutrition, the human resource.
“The health workforce is a major issue in this region, the infrastructure as well and we’re talking about universal health coverage and primary health care.
“At the same time, the cross cutting issue of gender equality as UNICEF in collaboration with partners, we have established the network for improving quality of care for maternal and newborn and child health.”
Kan said that through this network, the organisation aimed to provide every woman and newborn with care throughout their journey.
She also called for collaboration across borders for communicable diseases, and other issues and engage communities, women religious leaders, local leaders to monitor the progress.
The Director-General of WAHO, Dr Melchior Aissi, said that the partners’ forum was an opportunity to briefly review the state of health of the population in the ECOWAS region and present some of the challenges encountered.
He also said that it was to discuss the innovations and contributions that the partners could make in the context of WAHO’s major priorities for the provision of quality primary health care including community-based interventions.
This, he said was to ensure universal health coverage for most households in ECOWAS countries.
Aissi recalled the very remarkable contribution of partners in improving the health of the population of the ECOWAS region, adding that under the WAHO 2023 budget, community levy funds represented 34 per cent and partner funds 66 per cent.
“These contributions have enabled WAHO to make remarkable progress over the years in all countries and the region.
“Although challenges remain, both in terms of continuing to improve maternal and infant mortality rates by acting on the various determinants of vulnerability and the main causes, and in terms of improving the pillars of the health system, particularly at the level of human resources for health.”
He, however, made a plea for a dynamic and transparent partnership that promoted dialogue and synergy of actions in order to avoid the loss of funds linked to the duplication of interventions.
Speaking on the menace of malaria in the region, Prof. Sheila Tlou, Special Ambassador, African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA), said there were still gaps in addressing malaria challenge in the region.
“This includes critical financial shortfalls of malaria programmes, financial crisis and the impact of climate change, insecticide resistance and humanitarian crisis which need to be addressed urgently.
“Malaria surges, we know that Africa is off track to meet its bold and ambitious target to end malaria.
“The rate of progress has actually stalled in several countries. So this is why we need to see the Yaounde Declaration as an opportunity to translate commitment to excellence, especially by us as the partners.
“I must say that in spite of the gaps in implementation in malaria control, significant progress has been made in the region.
“We have the leadership and the determination in our countries, as well as develop it with commitment from our development partners and this will help us but we need to collaborate even more.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the WAHO is a specialised institution of ECOWAS responsible for health issues. (NAN)
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