The Federal Government partnered the United Kingdom to build the capacity of healthcare practitioners in Nigeria, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, said.
He made this known on Thursday in Abuja at the inauguration of the Global Health Workforce Programme (GHWP).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that GHWP is funded by the UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and managed by the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET).
Represented by the Director, Health Planning, Research and Statistics, Dr Chris Isokponwu, Pate said that the programme has the potential to align with the national health workforce strengthening agenda.
According to him, the GHWP will play a crucial role in addressing Nigeria’s health workforce challenges, under the management of THET.
He added that “the Nigerian health workforce is the cornerstone of the nation’s healthcare system, tirelessly working to ensure the well-being of citizens.
“However, as we survey the current landscape, it becomes evident that there are gaps that demand our attention from critical shortages to disparities in skills distribution, but we recognise the challenges that have long persisted and must be addressed.”
Pate noted that the programme has the potential to catalyse transformative change, adding that it signifies shared vision of a robust health workforce, resilient health and the achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
He said it is also targeted at improving services, especially in key areas that would improve health outcomes in Nigeria.
He explained that “one of the grants will be targeting reproductive health services and providing ecological services to women, young girls, and adolescent women, while there are others that will target children.
“Basically, it is the use of health workforce to improve service delivery.’’
The British High Commissioner, Mr Richard Montgomery, said that Nigeria must rapidly scale up coverage, access and uptake of life-saving quality, health and other essential services to reduce child/maternal mortality.
Represented by the Health Adviser at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in Nigeria, Dr Ebere Anyachukwu, the high commissioner added that the Federal government had taken commendable steps to address the challenge by inaugurating the Health Sector Renewal Programme.
“However, there are serious constraints to success and one of these include the health workforce challenge, such as critical shortages in the supply of workers, inadequate mix of skills in the workforce and inequitable distribution of health workers.
“As a result, the Nigerian government has rightly identified strengthening the health workforce as key priority for the health sector in our programme.
“The UK International Development Programme will support the Nigerian government’s efforts by backing a range of enduring partnerships between UK and Nigerian institutions to improve skills, expertise and effectiveness of Nigeria’s health workforce.”
Montgomery added that it would complement other UK programmes targeted at supporting workforce policies, governance, management, and expanding the capacity of training institutions.
The Deputy Registrar, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), Dr Victor Gbenro, said that the programme would help to build the capacity of healthcare practitioners.
He explained that “many health workers would be involved in researches that would bring about meaningful developments in the sector.
“It will encourage leadership and team-based practice and because its research, we are going to come up with evidence-based outcomes which can be used for decision making in the healthcare sector.
“Now, some of these researches will involve infrastructure within the health sector, will involve the knowledge and skills of practitioners.
“So, in the long run, you find out that this programme would lead to producing healthcare practitioners, especially doctors who are knowledgeable and skillful, improve their motivation and for those who are leaving, this can help reverse that trend.
“This is because doctors complain that they are not doing enough training, exposures in certain areas in the field of medical practice.”
On her part, former Kwara Governor’s Wife, Mrs Toyin Saraki, appreciated the efforts of the UK Government toward enhancing healthcare delivery in Nigeria.
She said that the partnership came through a competitive process, where organisations working in Nigeria, who had links to the UK could apply for specific programmes, which demonstrated impact on Nigeria, and also demonstrated knowledge sharing.
She added that her foundation, The WellBeing Foundation Africa, had for five years implemented a state-wide emergency obstetric and new-born care skills programme, a specialised training using simulation models to improve availability and quality of care in Nigeria.
According to her, the programme which is offered at a field level in hospitals, and also to postgraduate medical graduates, midwifery graduates and nursing graduates in Kwara, has an immediate reduction in maternal deaths and over 33 per cent reduction in postpartum birth injuries.
She explained that “it was a very expensive, labour-intensive training but we have long wanted to be able to put into Nigeria’s medical curriculum and be able to take this sort of training to scale.
“Infact, it is this grant that we have now applied for to be able to put in these training labs in the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria which is a government institution.
On reversing brain drain in the health sector, she said “the situation is to refill the pipeline, train enough to meet World Health Organisation ratio for health worker to population.’’
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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the GHWP is to strengthen the health workforce in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria.
Grants for new or existing Health Partnerships between UK, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria will be awarded to respond to national workforce priorities identified through a scoping assessment, which is due to be carried out in partnership with national governments and stakeholders.
Successful grants will be awarded to run from February 2024 until January 2025. (NAN)
