UNICEF commends Nigeria for National Health Act

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Latest Politics Thursday, May 26th, 2011

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has commended the National Assembly for passing the National Health Bill into law and called for a quick assent by the President.

In a goodwill message for this year’s Children’s Day celebration, which was made available to Daily Sun, UNICEF described the National Health Act as the best gift to Nigerian children, as they celebrate their day.
Part of the message reads: “The health status of children and women in Nigeria remain poor but we believe that with careful implementation of the National Health Act, along with sufficient funding for and close monitoring of the National Strategic Health Strategic Development Plan, Nigeria will take firm steps to reverse this trend.

“We expect the National Health Act to translate into the release of much needed funding from national revenues for the health of children and women. Its focus on an essential minimum package of care to tackle the health problems which cause the highest number of death and illness in children and women is highly commendable.” The representative of UNICEF in Nigeria, Dr Suomi Sakai said scaling up the implementation of an essential package of proven, cost-effective and high-impact interventions in all primary health centres, would bring Nigeria closer to attaining the health related MDGs.

“In doing so, we encourage the government and its partners to leave no child behind, as this momentum is really about securing quality primary health care with equity for every woman and every child”, she said. The group noted that the theme for this year’s Children’s Day celebration, ‘Good governance: Impact on the Nigerian child’ underscores the critical role of good governance in realizing the full spectrum of children’s rights, as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Nigeria’s Child Rights Act of 2003. Sakai said good governance should equal child-friendly governance and ensure that every child was counted and visible in the state budget.

“There is evidence to show that health care interventions often benefit only a small chunk of the population, while marginalizing the poorest and hardest to reach. However, good governance should not just be for the few. It is our common plight to ensure, tirelessly, that all children have access to basic social services,” she said.

-Sunwp_posts