By Gom Mirian and Kazeem Akolawole
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has welcomed the new funding commitment made by the United Kingdom’s Department of Health and Social Care to support Nigeria in strengthening her health workforce in the vision of achieving Universal Health Coverage.
It also said the grant amounting to £2m will run over a two year period to support the government of Nigeria to optimise the performance, quality and impact of the health workforce through evidence-informed policies and strategies.
The UK also provided a multi-million-pound boost to support healthcare staff recruitment and retention in three African countries namely Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana, in a bid to build resilience against global health challenges.
The WHO Representative in Nigeria, Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo, in a statement made available to Africa Health Report correspondent on Tuesday in Abuja, said the implementation at sub-national levels will focus on six states of Cross River, Enugu, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano and Lagos. He added that it will build on the presence and technical support being provided to State governments through the 37 WHO sub-national offices in Nigeria.
“The strength of every health system reflects the capacity and adequacy of its health workforce, which are necessary to deliver quality services to address population health needs.
“Through the UK government’s generous support through WHO, we will deploy the technical support from the 3 levels of the organisation to support the development of evidence-based policies and strategies, capacity building and management for improved planning and management of Nigeria’s health workforce,” said Mulombo.
Meanwhile, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr Richard Montgomery says, “A skilled, well-motivated and adequate health workforce is critical for Nigeria to #EndPreventableDeaths and build resilience against global threats.
“This UK International Development funding aligns with the Nigerian health workforce strategic plan and will help the country upskill its workers, and improve health outcomes in the long run.”
The 2-year project aims to support the government at national and sub-national levels and support regulatory bodies, professional associations, and other key stakeholders to develop transformative strategies for scaling up the quantity and quality of health workers, including competency-based curricula development and reviews.
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