Health
AfDB, Others Launch Investment Platform to Strengthen Primary Healthcare
By Adedapo Adesanya
Three multilateral development banks — the African Development Bank, European Investment Bank (EIB), and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), have joined with the World Health Organization (WHO) to launch the new Health Impact Investment Platform.
This is aimed at investing in and strengthening essential, climate and crisis-resilient primary healthcare services in low- and low-and-middle-income countries.
The platform, launched during the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact being held in Paris, will make an initial €1.5 billion available to low- and low-and-middle-income countries in concessional loans and grants to expand the reach and scope of their primary healthcare services, especially for the most vulnerable and underserved populations and communities.
The banks and WHO are the platform’s founding members, with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) also considering joining this partnership in view to extending this initiative to Latin America and the Caribbean region.
WHO will act as the platform’s policy coordinator, responsible for ensuring the alignment of financing decisions with national health priorities and strategies.
The Platform’s secretariat will support governments in developing national health and prioritize primary healthcare investment plans. It will also aim to catalyse wider primary healthcare investments in support of government health strategies.
Speaking on this landmark development, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said the primary health care or PHC approach offers the most effective means to improve health and well-being, including through the delivery of essential health services to all people.
He noted that it is a driver of universal health coverage, one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. World leaders committed in 2015 to achieve access to essential healthcare services and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all people by 2030.
“Around 90 per cent of essential health services can be delivered through PHC – on the ground, in communities, via health professionals, doctors and nurses, in local clinics. The broad spectrum of services that PHC provides can promote health and prevent disease, avoid and delay the need for more costly secondary and tertiary services, and deliver rehabilitation,” said Dr Tedros.
“PHC serves as the ‘eyes and ears’ of a country’s health system, reaching to the very communities where people live. The new Health Impact Investment Platform will strengthen the development of such services, serving as an invaluable investment in the health of populations today and in the future.”
On his part, EIB President, Mr Werner Hoyer said the partner development banks were committed to supporting countries to strengthen their primary health care services, to both promote the health of their communities and protect against the impacts of future health emergencies.
“COVID-19 demonstrated the great human and economic suffering that can occur when we fail to invest in essential health services,” said Dr Hoyer. “Cooperation among multilateral development banks through the new Health Impact Investment Platform will ensure countries in need are better able to build resilient primary health care services that can withstand the shocks of future health crises and safeguard communities and economies for the future.
“We already proved that in earlier collaborations with the WHO. The platform will facilitate access to crucial international financing for the most vulnerable. It is a concrete deliverable of President Macron’s call to increase international financial solidarity with the Global South.”
Mr Muhammad Al Jasser, chairman of the Islamic Development Bank, said: “To achieve universal health coverage by 2030, development financial institutions and nations must prioritize investing more in health. The Islamic Development Bank is committed to working collaboratively to generate impactful results and ensure access to quality and affordable primary healthcare for all.”
“Our cooperation will help guide investments by national governments to strengthen primary health care and their overall health systems, increase universal health coverage and improve their ability to prepare for, prevent and respond to health emergencies.
“We will work with countries individually to identify gaps in national health systems, design interventions and investment strategies, find funding, implement projects and monitor their impact,” said Mr Akinwumi Adesina, the AfDB president.
Mr Ilan Goldfajn, President of the Inter-American Development Bank, said: “Good health and well-being are common goals that bind the world together. To achieve these goals, countries and institutions must collaborate. We are convinced that cooperation – not only between nations but also between governments and the private sector – is critical to achieving universal health coverage. Recognizing the global nature of this investment platform, we are already in discussions with other stakeholders to expand these efforts across Latin America and the Caribbean.
“We extend an open invitation to our partners to join this global investment platform.”
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO estimated that to reach the health-related Sustainable Development Goals, low- and low-and-middle-income countries needed to increase their health spending significantly and require an additional $371 billion annually combined by 2030.
This funding would allow populations to access health services, contribute to building new facilities and train and place health workers where they need to be. It has also been estimated that preparing for future pandemics will require investment in the order of $31.1 billion annually.
Approximately one-third of that total would have to come from international financing. The Health Impact Investment Platform’s catalytic financing is also designed to promote the mobilization and coordination of broader financing flows through national primary healthcare investment plans.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The new one-hour authorisation response time ultimatum policy introduced by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has received the full backing of SUNU Health Nigeria Limited.
This policy was introduced by the agency to ensure enrollees get prompt approval codes to access care.
Healthcare service providers have been urged to report any Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO) that violates this initiative through an email, with the HMO in copy and a timestamp attached as evidence of the request. They may proceed to offer services to enrollees thereafter.
Speaking at the company’s second-quarter Providers’ Forum for the Lagos-Ogun region in Lagos recently, the chief executive of SUNU Health, Dr Moyosore Olomola, expressed optimism that this policy would improve healthcare delivery in the country, especially for enrollees, who crave quality service.
At the event themed Improving Quality and Access to Care Through Stronger Provider Network, and held at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) in Yaba, Lagos, Mr Olomola reaffirmed the HMO’s commitment to operating within legal and operational frameworks to guarantee adequate care for enrollees.
“Access to care and quality of care remain key priorities in our healthcare systems. We know quite well that deliberate collaboration, strategic partnerships, and a shared commitment to excellence are required to achieve these priorities.
“A strong provider network is doubtless the backbone of any effective healthcare system. It ensures that our mutual enrollees receive the right care, at the right time, in the right place, and at the right price,” Mr Olomola, represented at the programme by the organisation’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Dr Faith Nwachi, stated.
He further assured that SUNU Health would strictly adhere to the one-hour authorisation limit, stressing that this aligns seamlessly with one of the organisation’s core values—promptness and its corporate slogan, Humanity is the centre of our initiatives.
In a bid to further improve access and quality of care, SUNU Health also demonstrated its new operational software and Mobile app, aptly named SUNU Legacy.
Also speaking at the event, the NHIA Lagos State Coordinator (Ikeja), Dr Bethuel-Kasimu Abraham, noted that the forum’s expected outcome is to significantly reduce delays in accessing medical care.
Other key expectations include ensuring continuity of care, improving patient outcomes, and strengthening accountability among HMOs.
Addressing specific pain points faced by enrollees, the NHIA Ogun State Coordinator, Mr Dare Adefeso, acknowledged that the agency had received complaints regarding out-of-stock drugs and the discrimination of enrollees by certain providers.
He affirmed that the NHIA is actively addressing these issues, stressing that moving forward, every facility must ensure enrollees are properly catered to regardless of their status, provided they have an active health insurance plan.
Corroborating the long-standing legacy of SUNU Health, the Ogun State Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mrs Aishat Tiamiyu, shared that her agency is responsible for public information dissemination and has been enrolled with SUNU Health for over 25 years.
Commending the HMO’s stellar service over two decades, she called for the immediate enrollment of new NOA staff into the scheme.
The Providers’ Forum remains one of the strategic channels employed by SUNU Health to consistently engage healthcare providers, understand their operational challenges, introduce new software updates, and solidify partnerships aimed at fostering premium healthcare delivery across Nigeria.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has announced the recall of a sexual enhancement product known as WAP Sensual Enhancement Capsules.
In a statement on Monday, the Nigerian agency disclosed that the recall is due to “undeclared pharmaceutical ingredients” in the product, whose country of origin is unknown, but is marketed and distributed online in the US through eBay.
It was emphasised that the recall is being “voluntarily” made by the manufacturer, Best Supplements Best Prices Company.
The detection of the undeclared pharmaceutical ingredients was made by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Laboratory analysis by the US FDA revealed that the product contained undeclared sildenafil, tadalafil, and flibanserin, which were not mentioned on the product label. Such substances may include phosphodiesterase type-5 (PDE-5) inhibitors or related compounds commonly used for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, the statement by NAFDAC stated.
Sildenafil and tadalafil are ingredients in FDA-approved prescription drugs used to treat erectile dysfunction.
It was noted that these undeclared ingredients may interact with nitrates found in some prescription drugs, such as nitroglycerin, and may lower blood pressure to dangerous levels. Consumers with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or heart disease often take nitrates.
Flibanserin is the active ingredient in an FDA-approved prescription drug used to treat low sexual desire in women. Flibanserin can cause drowsiness, sedation, dangerously low blood pressure, and fainting, especially when combined with alcohol.
Consumers have been encouraged to report compromised products (medicines or medical devices) to the nearest NAFDAC office, call 0800-162-3322, or send an email to sf******@********ov.ng.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Dr Obi Adigwe has been appointed as the pioneer National Coordinator of the National Health Technology and Data Analytics Office (NHTDAO).
The body was created by the Ministry of Health under the approval of President Bola Tinubu.
NHTDAO will be domiciled in the Office of the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, a statement on Friday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, stated.
The agency will serve as a meta-level national platform for coordinating the country’s digital-health agenda. It will reinforce, not replace, the existing statutory functions of relevant departments and agencies, it was emphasised.
The organisation will also harmonise and empower the public and private institutions across the health system, set the standards that connect them, and operationalise the National Digital Health Architecture, approved by the National Council on Health in November 2025.
It was stated that President Tinubu expects NHTDAO to accelerate Nigeria’s transition to a secure, interoperable and data-driven health system that improves outcomes for all citizens.
Mr Adigwe, as Director General of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, has leveraged science to catalyse interventions in artificial intelligence, translational research, and technology transfer.
He coordinated major projects, including the ¥300m Nanotechnology grant and the AFREXIMBank grant for Africa’s first API Training Facility. He led the roadmap development that underpinned an €18 million EU grant, the largest in Africa for the thematic area. During the last pandemic, Adigwe globally showcased African science by undertaking the world’s first analysis to debunk claims about the Covid Organics preparation.
The Office’s Steering Committee, which provides strategic direction and oversight, comprises:
- Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare (Co-chair)
- Mr Olaniyi Yusuf, Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (Co-chair)
- Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare (Alternate Co-chair)
- Ms Kachollom Daju, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare
- Mr Idris Alubankudi Saliu, Special Adviser to the President on Technology and Digital Economy
- Dr Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq, National Coordinator, SWAp Coordination Office
- Dr Abdu Mukhtar, National Coordinator, Presidential Initiative to Unlock Healthcare Value Chain
- Dr Muyi Aina, Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency
- Dr Kelechi Ohiri, Director General, National Health Insurance Authority
- Director, Health Planning, Research and Statistics, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare
- National Information Technology Development Agency Representative
- Six representatives of the State Commissioners of Health, one from each of the six geopolitical zones
- Pharm Hamza Buhari, Stakeholder representing Industry and Community.
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