The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, announced on Wednesday in Abuja that the Federal Government has disbursed N45 billion directly to Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs) across the country through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF). This announcement was made at the ongoing three-day Nigeria Health Sector-Wide Joint Annual Review.
Key Highlights of the Disbursement
- Improved Healthcare Access: The BHCPF 2.0 reform prioritizes equity considerations in distributing financial and human resources to over 8,000 primary healthcare centers.
- Complementary Funding: An additional N3 billion in complementary funding has been mobilized over the past three years, including N2.1 billion confirmed over time.
- Facility Revitalization: Several facilities have been revitalized, with 2,600 currently undergoing upgrades and 2,000 more planned.
- Health Workforce Development: 120,000 frontline health workers will undergo retraining, with over 40,000 already completed.
- Disease Reduction: Significant progress has been made in tackling infectious diseases, including 40% reduction in diarrheal diseases, 24% in tuberculosis, and 12% in HIV.
Governor Hope Uzodinma’s Remarks
Hope Uzodinma, Governor of Imo State and representative of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, emphasized the need for continued collaboration to address persistently high under-five and infant mortality rates ¹. He commended the Minister of Health’s efforts to translate the health sector compact into action and reiterated the Forum’s commitment to improving the health sector.
