Leadership (Abuja)
2 October 2008
When President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua took over the reins of power in 2007, the global health rating of Nigeria was not encouraging. The country, for instance, was rated only above Afghanistan , considered the worst in terms of child and maternal mortality.
The implication of the index is that out of every 1,000 live births, 197 children will die, while 80 women out of 1,000 die during childbirth. Neonatal mortality rate was put at 53 per 1,000.
The WHO's Country Fact Sheet for Nigeria, puts life expectancy at birth at 46 and healthy life expectancy at birth at 41 years for males and 42 years for females.
It also said that the probability of dying between 15 and 60 years was 513 for males and 478 for females per every 1,000.
The sheet further puts life expectancy in Nigeria at 45 years for males and 46 years for females.
According to the records, there are 34,923 physicians in the country, while the density ratio is 0.28 per 1,000 Nigerians.
There are 210,006 nurses with a density of 1.70 per 1,000 citizens, while there are 6,444 pharmacists with a density of 0.05 per 1,000 Nigerians.
Analysts said that the situation was worsened by the total absence of infrastructure at the various tertiary hospitals across the country.
Dr Ugba Ekon, a private medical practitioner, said the absence of facilities and equipment at the various teaching hospitals has forced these institutions to venture into minor cases which health centres should handle.
"Teaching hospitals no longer undertake research as they are all saddled with treating cases which health centres should treat," he said.
The deteriorating state of the nation's health sector is further exposed by the discovery of new cases of polio across the federation.
States in the Southern part of the country where polio were never heard of are now recording such cases.
The Chairman of the National Population Commission, Chief Samu'ila Makama, recently raised fears that the situation could worsen with the nation's population reaching 225 million by 2025.
"At the current fertility rate of 5.7 children per woman, Nigeria's population will double even faster, reaching 225 million by 2025," Makama said.
He said the country would require an additional N1.4 trillion to meet the health and educational needs of children by 2025.
"In future, Nigeria will need to invest billions more to immunise its infant population and government expenditure on primary education must increase from N350 billion in 2000 to more than N872 billion by 2025.
"Nigeria has one of the fastest growing populations in the world, growing at 3.2 per cent per annum," he added.
Makama noted that the country's population rose from 56 million in 1963 to 140 million by 2006 within a period of 40 years.
Analysing the population explosion at current growth rate, he said: "If a couple decides to have five children and their offsprings follow suit, by the fourth generation, there would be 155 offsprings as grand-children."
According to him, positive efforts must be made to influence the rate of population growth as 5.6 million children are born per year and 15,342 per day in the country.
He said that a strategic plan, with an ambitious target of reducing national population growth rate from 3.2 per cent to 2 per cent by 2015, was ready for Nigeria .
"The plan will also lay out the modalities for reducing total fertility rate by 50 per cent of the current level of 5.7 by 2015, as well as increase the use of modern contraceptives by at least two per cent annually," he said.
Other strategies contained in the plan, according to him, include delayed marriage, increased birth spacing, prolonged breast feeding and delayed commencement of sexual activity.
Commenting on the plan, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, said that it would enable the country to manage its population effectively.
Ahmed said that if the population growth rate was not properly managed, it can hamper government's effort to fulfil its commitment to improve the quality of life and standard of living for the people.
But for Dr Dogo Muhammad, the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), all hope is not lost.
Muhammad said that in spite of the daunting challenges, Nigeria 's chances of meeting the targets set in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are "still very bright and promising".
He said that "going by the programmes and projects being implemented by government currently, the possibility of us meeting the health component of the MDGs is bright".
Among such programmes are the NHIS/MDGs Maternal and Under-5 Child Health care Project (MCH) already launched in six states.
Muhammad said that the MCH project has received N5 billion from the MDGs Fund which would be used to provide free medicare to under-five children and pregnant women in six pilot states.
He listed the benefiting states as Bayelsa, Gombe, Imo, Oyo , Niger and Sokoto.
More states, Muhammad said, are expected to come on board as soon as more funds are injected into the project.
"We expect that the project shall help eliminate physical and financial barriers to qualitative health care for 621,386 children under five and pregnant women in the participating states.
"Our hope is that with the project intervention, we shall achieve a significant reduction in maternal and under-five mortality rate in these states," he said.
The executive secretary also said that the project will ensure that the international community recognises the genuine and concerted effort of the Nigerian government to rise to the challenge of poor maternal and child health in the country.
On her part, Sen. Iyabo Obansanjo-Bello, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, sees the country's maternal and child mortality rating as a reflection of the decay in the health sector.
She, however, gave the assurance that "things can be turned around".
Obasanjo-Bello said the rate at which pregnant women and children below five years are dying in the country was "very alarming".
She stressed that: "We must support efforts to curtail these unwanted deaths."
According to her, the success of the MCH project would help in repositioning the health sector.
For Mrs Amina Ibrahim, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on the MDGs, supporting the health sector's revival with funds accruing from the debt relief granted the country is one of the best decisions of the current government.
She said that such support would enable Nigeria to meet goals four and five of the MDGs.
"We must do everything possible to ensure that the maternal and child mortality rating of Nigeria is reduced," she said.
As government articulates strategies to make the economy one of the world's best 20 by 2020, analysts emphasised the need for a healthy population because only a healthy populace can drive the economy to the desired heights.
Abutu is a staff of NAN
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