The Nigerian government has reaffirmed its commitment to put into effect health education and prevention strategies, primed on eradicating the heavy burden of non-communicable diseases, high mortality rate and mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
The Minister for State, Health and Social Welfare revealed this at a reception of members of Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), led by Dr. David Ripin, its Vice President, Infectious Diseases.
According to a statement released by the Ministry, Dr. Iziaq Salako, while speaking on the burden of diseases like cancers, hypertension and diabetes in the society, said “the government is adopting a more proactive approach of health education and prevention to completely address these unwholesome challenges”.
The 2025 budget of the Ministry which will feature programs on cancer prevention at all levels, is a practical assurance to this approach, according to the Minister.
“This year in our budget, we are focusing a lot attention on cancer. A lot of that funding will be around cancer prevention, both at primary prevention and secondary prevention levels, with screening, population prevention, and so on and so forth”; Dr. Salako was quoted in the statement.
He further said the Nigerian government is prioritised on addressing and reducing high mortality rates to the lowest. He added that a programme known as Maternal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative has been launched by the Ministry.
“The Ministry will address challenges around providing maternal care, particularly in high-burden local governments for maternal mortalities. “Introducing minimal technology into maternal care plus ultrasound, would drive more women to come for antenatal care”, the statement further read.
Dr. Salako commended the existing partnership between the Ministry and CHAI, saying, it would bring more positive impact and results to the average Nigerian.
Dr. Olufunke Fasawe, the Country Director of CHAI, spoke of the contributions of the organization towards improving access to healthcare delivery in the country. These, according to her, include collaborating with the Health & Social Welfare Ministry on a 50% reduction in the prices of some chemotherapies and, supporting about 20 plus centres across the country. It is also aimed at ensuring that patients have access to these prices.
Dr. Fasawe also highlighted on cervical cancer elimination and on it, he said CHAI has moved cervical screening from outreaches, NGOs and, charitable events to integrating it into the normal routine services that will enable women, 25 years and above to get routinely screened for cervical cancer.
Furthermore, she stated that over 57,000 women have received HPV screening, saying that CHAI was able to get a significant price reduction of HPV test kits from about $20 to now $7 to achieve the high number of screened women.