The Federal Government has disbursed N45bn to Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) across Nigeria through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund. Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, made the announcement during the ongoing Nigeria Health Sector-Wide Joint Annual Review in Abuja on Wednesday.
Pate highlighted that the Basic Health Care Provision Fund 2.0 reform uses equity considerations to distribute financial and human resources to over 8,000 PHCs. He said, “N45bn has already been disbursed directly to the states to serve our population.”
Additionally, the minister revealed that over the past three years, more than N3bn in complementary funding has been mobilized, including N2.1bn that has already been confirmed. This will complement the Federal Government’s efforts to revitalise PHCs.
“Several facilities have already been revitalised, and 2,600 are currently in the late stages of being upgraded. Moreover, 2,000 more facilities will be revitalised as part of this effort,” Pate added.
As part of the ongoing reform, the government has committed to retraining 120,000 frontline health workers. Over 40,000 have already undergone retraining, with progress on track to meet the target.
Pate also shared encouraging statistics on Nigeria’s health progress, including a 40% reduction in diarrhoeal diseases, 24% reduction in tuberculosis (TB), and 12% reduction in HIV. He emphasized that the political commitment to healthcare reforms would accelerate efforts towards further improvements.
“We’ve seen significant improvements in modern contraceptive use, with 17 states showing better performance and six doubling their efforts,” he said.
In his remarks, the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, who represented the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, acknowledged improvements in health indicators but stressed the need for continued progress. He noted that despite efforts to reduce under-five and infant mortality, the figures remain unacceptably high, along with rising neonatal mortality and malnutrition rates.
Uzodinma emphasized the importance of collaborative efforts to address these challenges, aligning stakeholders across the 36 states to achieve better health outcomes for all Nigerians.
“We must continue working together, recognising the unique challenges each state faces while staying focused on improving health outcomes nationwide,” Uzodinma concluded.
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