Modupe Gbadeyanka
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Minister of State for Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, has inaugurated committees towards improving the quality of healthcare for mothers, newborn and children in the country.
Dr Enahire said it is to drive the process of improving the quality of health care for mothers, newborn and children in a coordinated manner.
The inauguration of the steering and technical committee took place yesterday in Abuja and the Minister stated that Nigeria was one of the first wave of countries to be part of the network to improve quality of healthcare among other countries.
The Minister appreciated the World Health Organization (WHO) for accepting Nigeria’s admission into the WHO-led network towards improving quality of healthcare for mothers, newborns and children.
He reiterated that Nigeria’s support of the WHO vision where ‘every pregnant woman and newborn receives quality healthcare throughout, childbirth and the postnatal period’ as a country.
He pointed out that the Federal Government was committed towards developing health care strategies and plan in line with WHO‘s recommendation.
Dr Ehinare reassured that with the calibre of members in the steering and technical committees, Nigeria could make progress in reducing maternal, newborn and child deaths.
The members of the steering committee are Minister of Health, Minister of State for Health, Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Minister of Finance, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Education, Minister of Water Resources, Minister of Environment, Minister of Information and Culture, Permanent Secretary of Federal Ministry of Health, Director in the Department of Health Services, Director in the Family Health Department, Director in the Health Planning Research and Statistics, Executive Secretary of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Director–General of NAFDAC and others.
The Terms of Reference of the Steering Committee include: To provide high level leadership for coordination of quality of care (QoC) interventions for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) in Nigeria, to oversee partners and donors mapping, identify and mobilize resources from Global and local partners for implementation of the national RMNCAH QoC roadmap and operational plan, to provide high level support to the WHO – led RMNCAH QoC network and implementation of the operational plan at country level, to provide overall guidance and approve action plans for the implementation of the national quality of care presented by the quality of care technical committee on RMNCAH, to conduct high level advocacy on the improvement of quality of care in health facilities to all states of the federation, among others. The terms of reference of the technical committee also includes, To contribute to the development of a national quality of care strategies of health services and develop an action plan/road map to improve national quality of care of health services for RMNCAH in Nigeria, provide technical support for implementation of WHO – led RMNCAH QoC Network action plans in the country, to develop strategies to link health facilities to communities to improve quality of care for women ,children and adolescents, to facilities and work hand – in – hand with quality of care teams in health facilities and to provide technical support for monitoring progress of RMNCAH QoC at regular intervals and put together country reports.
In her welcome remark, the Permanent Secretary, FMOH, Mrs Binta Adamu Bello, who was represented by the Director, Hospital Services, Dr Wapada Balami, said that the inauguration was coming at this time when several plans are being made for Nigeria to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
She applauded the WHO, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Programme (MNCH2), Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP) and other development partners for the technical and financial support for this important project.
