The Senate on Tuesday said that the expenditure of over $1 billion (about N305.250 billion) annually for medical treatment abroad was unacceptable.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Senator Lanre Tejuosho, who stated this at a press conference in Abuja said that the Senate was working assiduously to turn the country’s health sector around for the benefit of Nigerian.
Founder-President of The Wellbeing Foundation Africa, Toyin Saraki has revealed that about 20 million Nigerian women have experienced Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
Mrs Saraki made the disclosure in commemoration of the United Nation’s International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation on February 6.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Lanre Tejuosho, has decried budgetary allocation to health sector, saying it was disproportionate in comparison to its mandate.
He said that the ministry’s allocation had continued to “show no break in gloomy pattern over the years”.
Mr. Tejuosho stated this on Wednesday at a news briefing in Abuja and said that “in the 2017 Capital Budget of N2.24 trillion, the health sector was allocated N51 billion (representing 2.78per cent).”
Nigeria has inaugurated the technical and steering committees to drive the process of improving quality healthcare for mothers, newborn and children.
The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, inaugurated the steering and technical committees in Abuja.
The inauguration of the committees was in direct response for the admission of Nigeria into the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) network on quality healthcare for mothers, newborns and children.
The UN Fund for Population Activities, UNFPA, says Nigeria and The Gambia are among the countries that have outlawed the harmful practice of female genital mutilation.
The UNFPA, in a report on the of 2017 International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, commemorated on February 6, stressed the urgent need to abandon the practice.
Sokoto state government may introduce family planning packages to the female intending pilgrims because of the suffering pregnant women go through during Hajj exercise.
Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal disclosed this at the inauguration of the newly elected officials of the Medical Women Association of Nigeria, Sokoto state branch.
Tambuwal who was represented by the Commissioner of Health, Dr. Balarabe Kakale said this was to allow women perform the religious rites while in the holy Land without any hitch.
Founder-President of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, Mrs Toyin Saraki has said that Nigeria is in the midst of a national health crisis.
Mrs Saraki, who is the Chair of Nigeria's Primary Healthcare Revitalization Support Group, however added that the solution to the crisis is within the nation’s grasp.
African Heads of State have pledged to increase investment in immunisation coverage on the continent.
The leaders made the commitment at the 28th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, are to increase their country’s political and financial investments in vaccination programmes .
The World Health Organisation Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, noted that while immunisation coverage has improved over the last 15 years , the progress has stagnated in many countries.
The Kaduna State Government on Tuesday said it would recruit 1, 245 healthcare workers to address the challenges of maternal health.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Paul Dogo, disclosed this at a one-day stakeholders’ forum in Kaduna.
The forum is being organised quarterly by a coalition of Civil Society Organisations known as Kaduna State MNCH Accountability Mechanism (KADMAN) in collaboration with the Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR).
A non-governmental organisation, Save the Children, has disclosed its plans to partner with the federal government in a bid to make education a priority in Nigeria.
Tove Wang, CEO of Save the Children Norway, made this known during a media briefing on the preparations for the Oslo Humanitarian Conference on the crisis in Nigeria.
The conference which is scheduled for February 23 and 24 in Norway, will focus on nutrition, protection, food security and also on the access to education.
