By Tony Obiechina, ABUJA
The Federal Government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have agreed to commit the sum of US$75 million to finance Nigeria’s health sector with the aim of strengthening both routine immunisation (RI) and broader primary healthcare (PHC) services.
Under the agreement, Nigeria will receive incentive financing for over five years from the Gates Foundation while the government meets existing commitments to increase domestic funding of its health programmes.
The Federal Government was jointly represented by the Ministers of Budget and National Planning; Finance, and Health, at the signing of the agreement on Monday.
A statement from the Finance Ministry by the Special Adviser on Media & Communication, Paul Abechi, in Abuja on Tuesday, said “the incentive financing will be directly invested in Nigeria’s Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF), and used in strengthening and financing other PHC services for the poorest”.
According to the statement, the deal coming at a time when the nation’s revenue generation is constrained, “will direct new funds to Nigeria’s broader health sector even as more domestic resources are dedicated to critical childhood vaccines specifically—creating a win-win opportunity for essential PHC services to grow in tandem”.
The statement noted that ” by harnessing complementary donor resources, agreement ensures that increased government funding for routine immunisation will further strengthen primary healthcare for Nigeria’s poorest”.
Speaking, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma said, “Childhood immunisation is one of the most effective and cost-effective health interventions, and I can think of few better long-term investments in Nigeria’s human capital and future prosperity,”
The Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed said, “here’s no question that immunisation is an all-around ‘best buy’ for Nigeria, and extremely high value-for-money, but we still have limited resources”.
“This innovative financing will allow us to limit trade-offs in the health sector by ensuring that every additional Naira released for vaccines unlocks additional resources for broader PHC improvements”, she pointed out.
“Full implementation of the NSIPSS will ensure that millions more Nigerian children are reached with vaccines and potentially save millions of lives,” said Professor Isaac Adewole, Minister of Health.
“We know that a strong overall PHC system can take care of more than 80 percent of Nigerians’ health needs. So full utilization of the BHCPF will go that much further”, he added.
The BHCPF implementation formally rolled out on January 8, 2019 finances critical PHC interventions for children, women and families with a focus on rural and underserved areas, and by providing direct funding to facilities for operational expenses.
By channeling incentive financing through the BHCPF, the Federal Government and the Gates Foundation will ensure that those resources, like RI commitments, directly benefit Nigerians most in need.
In April of last year, the Federal Government—through the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency—finalized its Nigeria Strategy for Immunisation and PHC System Strengthening, 2018-2028 (NSIPSS), which outlined plans to spend US$1.95 billion on immunisation services over ten years via the national budget and some World Bank loan financing.
In June, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, committed to supporting the NSIPSS with extended donor financing as domestic resources scale up. During this extended transition window, international donors via Gavi will provide Nigeria with US$1 billion, on top of the US$1.95bn domestic commitment.
Together these funds will cover procurement of vaccines—the lion’s share of the costs—as well as operational costs for routine and supplementary immunisation activities, and PHC system support.
However, even with the additional Gavi support and loan options, the NSIPSS financing strategy requires significant annual increases in funding for vaccines until the government assumes full responsibility after 2028.
While Federal Government planning accounts for this, the incentive financing with the Gates Foundation will help reduce the pressure this creates on the overall health budget by providing new grant financing for PHC each year as domestic vaccine financing commitments are met.
