By Onche Odeh
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has unveiled a 3-pronged strategic approach it shall be deploying to accelerate some of the gains made in health care delivery at the primary health care level.
In this regard, the agency has said it is looking at riding on these gains to ensure speedy and equitable access to quality healthcare for all Nigerians using the Primary Health Care system as the bastion.
This much, as disclosed by the Executive Director of NPHCDA, Dr. Muyi Aina during a Press Conference on Friday to mark the end of Management Retreat to fashion out a strategic Blueprint for the agency include deploying conscious effort to institutional strengthening that will position NPHCDA as an effective partner to all stakeholders as it strives to co-ordinate the development of PHC services in Nigeria.
According to Aina, the agency is also working on bestowing the country with Efficient, Equitable, Quality and trusted PHC services that is delivered through a functional PHC system that is made accessible to all Nigerians.
He also said that NPHCDA will also be working with NCDC and other relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), stakeholders and partners to position PHC for effective frontline health security in the country.
“Emerging from this management retreat, our strategic pillars and the priorities for the next two years are as follows we are poised to position Primary Health care in Nigeria, such that it is accessible to every citizen across all parts of the country,” Aina said.
The NPHCDA ED also said that the agency shall be riding on gains made by Nigeria’s security agency and innovative approaches to bypass the challenge of insecurity in its plans to make PHC accessible in all parts of the country.
On the issue of sustainability, Aina said the current government of President Bola Tinubu has laid a perfect ground for sustainability by making creating substantive funding for PHC in the budget.
He also used the opportunity to disclose some of the outcomes of the management retreat, saying, “Part of our deliberations at this retreat is to develop road map for effective and timely implementation of the strategic blueprint.
“As you are aware, primary healthcare is the bedrock that we are building on for effective and equitable healthcare services for all Nigerians. The Federal Government is therefore determined to strengthen our primary healthcare system to ensure that every Nigerian has equitable access to quality PHC services they need through a system that they trust.”