The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called on the government at all levels to reduce reliance on external sources for health funding and instead make adequate provisions in their budgets.

UNICEF Deputy Representative in Nigeria, Dr Rowan Khan, made the statement on Wednesday in Abuja at the Primary Health Care (PHC) Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Learning and Dissemination Event.

The PHC MoU Health Systems Strengthening Initiative is a three-year partnership (2022 to March 2025) between GAVI, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and UNICEF.

The initiative also involves eight states: Bayelsa, Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Taraba, and Zamfara.

The initiative aims to strengthen routine immunisation and PHC systems to reduce morbidity and mortality by addressing vaccine-preventable diseases and improving essential health services.

According to Khan, the U.S. administration’s pause of foreign aid, affecting nearly all its foreign aid programmes, is no surprise but a wake-up call to stop reliance on external funding for health.

“Looking at what is happening at the global level, we need to really reduce the reliance on others at all levels.

“What has happened with the U.S. government’s decision has shaken us to the core, but honestly, we knew this was coming because we cannot forever rely on external support.

“All of us need to have our own ownership, our own accountabilities, and our own responsibilities as well.”

She also emphasised the importance of coordination among stakeholders and optimizing available resources, considering the limitations in both financial and human resources.

Khan added that such efforts would have a more significant impact on Nigeria’s future.

To sustain the gains made in the past three years from the PHC initiative, Khan suggested that state governments should conduct a proper budget analysis.

The analysis, he said should focus on identifying gaps, particularly regarding basic services for children and the revitalisation of PHCs in each ward.

“So, I urge all state authorities to look at this very carefully.

“Please look at your budgets and see how we can intuitively allocate resources for the basic services of health, specifically for immunisation and other basic services,” she said.

Dr Manasseh Jatau, the Deputy Governor of Gombe State, stressed the importance of Nigeria beginning to sponsor research to produce medicines and vaccines from local plants.

He explained that Nigeria had sufficient plant resources to produce vaccines, which could reduce the cost of vaccine importation.

“We must take responsibility for our health issues. My dear governors and medical personnel, we are challenged to take responsibility for obvious reasons.

“In the long run, we should be prepared in case there’s donor doubt, donor denial, donor fatigue, and eventually donor stoppage.

“If we don’t get ready for that, a calamity is waiting for us,” he said.

Jesicca Crawford, the Country Manager of GAVI, commended the governors of the implementing states for their commitment to the programme.

She said such commitment was necessary to build a healthier, more resilient Nigeria, where every child, citizen, and woman had access to quality PHC services.

She urged the governors to ensure that the services were sustained and that the achievements made through the MoU were replicated in other states.

Dr Mya Ngon, the Team Lead for Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases at the World Health Organisation (WHO), acknowledged the successes recorded but stressed the need for further work to reduce zero-dose immunisation among unimmunised children.

“We also need to sustain government efforts to implement PHC strengthening and immunisation to improve equitable access to vaccines and reduce zero-dose children.

“We should remember our national goal to invest in reducing reliance on campaigns and focus more on strengthening the health system,” she said.

Halima Muhammed, Senior Programme Manager for Immunisation at the Nigeria Governor’s Forum (NGF), noted that the MoU hasd significantly strengthened PHC systems over the past three years, ensuring that many children received vaccines.

“The NGF, alongside our esteemed partners, has played a pivotal role in implementing targeted interventions.

“These efforts have enhanced service delivery, increased demand generation, strengthened disease surveillance, improved governance, optimizsed human resources, fortified supply chains, and driven high-level advocacy to ensure sustained political commitment to PHC,” she said.

Muhammed also highlighted the importance of sustaining these gains through the Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp) programme by integrating resources, policies, and initiatives across the health sector.

To ensure sustainability, the initiative is transitioning programme ownership to state governments.

NAN