Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
As the 63rd meeting of the National Council of Heath begun yesterday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged the federal government to make deliberate efforts to reflect key pillars of health systems including primary healthcare, climate change, strengthening local manufacture of vaccines.
In a goodwill message by WHO at the opening ceremony of the 63rd Regular National Council on Health (NCH), holding at Abuja, the WHO Country Director, Walter Mulombo said the organisation recommended an urgent paradigm shift towards promoting health and well-being and preventing disease by addressing its root causes; having a radical reorientation of health systems towards primary health care, as the foundation of universal health coverage,
He said: “At the 150th Session of the WHO Executive Board on 24 January 2022, the Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, presented 5 priority result areas which formed key rationale for Member States to extend the 13th General Program of Work (GPW13) up to the year 2025 during the 75th World Health Assembly.
“These priorities include supporting countries to (a) mtake an urgent paradigm shift towards promoting health and well-being and preventing disease by addressing its root causes; have a radical reorientation of health systems towards primary health care, as the foundation of universal health coverage, urgently strengthen the systems and tools for epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response at all levels, underpinned by strong governance and financing to ignite and sustain those efforts, connected and coordinated globally by WHO; harness the power of science, research innovation, data and digital technologies as critical enablers of the other priorities; and urgently strengthen WHO as the leading and directing authority on global health, at the center of the global health architecture”..
Mulombo described the 63rd Regular National Council on Health as the most important strategic meeting of the health sector,
He said the meeting with the theme, “Building a Resilient and Sustainable Health System for Improved Health Outcomes and Universal Health Coverage” was very apt.
“This builds on the deliberations of the last Special National Council on Health which focused on applying lessons from COVID-19 in building resilient health systems towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals.
“Looking at the Sub-themes of this National Council on Health, deliberate effort has been made to reflect key thematic areas across the 6 pillars of health systems including primary healthcare, climate change, strengthening local manufacture of vaccines and biologicals, big data and digital health, health insurance, and building essential partnerships.”
