Coalition urges Ambode to raise funds for family health

Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health in Nigeria, PACFaH has urged the government of Lagos State to cut deaths of women and children by raising budgetary allocation to family health.

Acknowledging the performance of the state in raising funds to partner with donors keen on reducing child and maternal death, the non-governmental organizations said it was important for the new administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to keep the lead in backing the campaign to cut the pandemic to size.

The Team Leader, Mr. Umar Ahmad told the Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Office, Mrs. Folashade Ogunaike who stood in for the Secretary to the State Government Mr. Tunji Bello at the parley recently in Lagos that the partnership has been on tour of the states in the federation to meet with the transition committees on health to sensitise them on the alarming rate at which Nigeria is losing women and children to treatable diseases.

He said the partnership hopes to work with the state governments on reduction of mortality in deaths affecting women and children to enhance the country’s human development and progress.

The partnership being co-ordinated by the development Research and Projects Centre, dRPC includes the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN; Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria, HERFON; Federation of Muslim Women Organisations of Nigeria, FOMWAN; Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC; Civil Society for Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria, CI-SUNN; Centre for Health Research Initiative in Nigeria, CHR and the Association for the Advancement of Family Planning.

In its letter to the Lagos State government, the partnership stated that it was “concerned with the problem of reduced domestic funding available for government to meet its social development commitments” and want the governments to “ identify innovative strategies and mechanisms to forecast funding needs to meet these needs in the medium and long term.”

The four sectors canvassed by the partnership for urgent funding support are nutrition, routine immunization, family planning, amoxillin as first line treatment for pneumonia and zinc as treatment for frequent stooling among children.

Remi Adeseun, a pharmacist representing the PSN advocated a review of the essential drugs list approved by the government to facilitate the introduction of new type of amoxillin and zinc to its drug stores.