At the 11th biennial conference of the African Christian Health Associations Platform (ACHAP), stakeholders emphasized support for effective universal health care.
A health advisor from India, Dr. Jaya Shreedhar, said in a conference in Abuja, that more than one hundred and twenty countries people around the world can adequately participate in their health projects and thus support democracy in the field of health and humanitarian aid.
She said,” Universal health coverage (UHC) empowers people to get information to make useful choices while changing information is done only by journalists with good intentions to bring news to the people and to their doorsteps.
Shreedhar noted that Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone are the biggest beneficiaries on the African continent.
“UHC means that everyone has access to all the quality health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship.
“UHC protects people from health costs and reduces people’s risk of falling into poverty because the costs of necessary services and care require them to spend their life savings, sell their assets or take out loans, destroying their futures and often their lives and future of children.
At the heart of UHC is a skilled workforce that is equitably distributed and supported by access to quality medical supplies.
“UHC is still a long way off for much of the population as global health has not improved since 2015. and During the COVID-19 pandemic, coverage remains at risk in a staggering 92 percent of countries. Most countries still need to restore health services to pre-pandemic levels.
“WHO estimates that in 2021, almost 4.5 billion people did not have access to all essential health services, and Faith based organizations (FBOs) provide a significant proportion of essential health services in sub-Saharan Africa through primary health care, which is the backbone of UHC. Strategic partnerships between health professionals, food companies and suppliers can focus public attention on UHC and encourage government and civil society decision-makers to invest enough to achieve the UHC target set by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
She urged the media in Nigeria and other African countries to pay attention to success stories in the implementation of the Universal Health Insurance Programs because it could instill mutual confidence and inform the public of their right to justice, and quality health.
Also, Reverend Genesis Onah, a lecturer at the University of Abuja, spoke at the half-yearly conference of the African Christian Health Organization at the Media Science Cafe. He wants the Federal Government to support faith-based health institutions that provide health services to Nigerians at the grassroots level of society.
The priest, who also represented the regional Christian hospital, Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, Bwari, emphasized that faith-based health institutions provide quality and affordable health services to Nigerians in a transparent manner, making them strategic in achieving the global health goal.
“There is no community without religious services. In fact, today there are a large number of services, and society is undeniable.
Dr. Dennis Cherian, Deputy Director of Global Health, IMA World Health Corus International, emphasized the need for primary health care as a basic right of citizens.
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