The Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) says it has begun the journey to improve activities around reproductive maternal newborn child adolescent and elderly health plus nutrition (RMNCAEH+N), with streamlined strategies to accelerate the improvement of the health and wellbeing of Nigerians.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, said this at the first bi-annual RMNCAEH+N multi-stakeholder partnership coordination platform held yesterday in Abuja.
Ehanire said that the platform was of great significance to Nigerian women, children, adolescents and the elderly in the country.
Recall that since the launch of the Maternal Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) strategy in 2007, the national MNCH partnership (PMNCH) has been coordinated by the Core Technical Committee (CTC), leading to the establishment of the technical working groups for each programmatic area in RMNCAEH +N spectrum.
In a bid to improve the well-being of women, children, adolescents and the elderly in Nigeria, in 2020 the government launched the RMNCAEH+N, a multi-stakeholder partnership coordination platform.
The platform harmonised the health interventions of the government and health partners to reduce wastage and channel funds to get the desired result to achieve universal health care coverage (UHC).
It brings together a wider cross-sector of partners and traditional leaders to address the gaps in achieving effective overall coordination of RMNCAEH+N issues by harnessing the relative strengths of individual players to leverage resources, reduce duplication and induce speed towards maximised health outcomes.
Ehanire said that the health of mother and child was a strategic measure of national development and remained topical in global developmental priorities.
“I note the modest progress we have made since we launched this platform, such as the development of an annual operational plan at about 90 per cent completion.
“Other notable accomplishments include a strengthened partnership with Federal Ministry of Health parastatals like the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) and the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
These partnerships were demonstrated by the harmonisation of the Community Health Influencers, Promoters and Services (CHIPS) programme, which was launched during the PHC summit.
“We also inaugurated the ministerial committee on the provision of health insurance for retirees and older persons that ensures the elderly are not left behind and the report has been submitted,” he said.
The minister said that as part of RMNCAEH+N commitments, the Federal Government was working to ensure the availability of family planning commodities and services by launching the FP2030 commitment.
He said that the commitment was aimed to increase domestic funding and sustainable financing through earmarking of one per cent of health budgets, at Federal and state levels.
“We are optimistic that Nigeria will attain her vision with a strategy that allows eligible citizens to make informed choices.
“Such eligible people include adolescents, young people and vulnerable populations. They will be enabled to make informed choices and get equitable, affordable access to quality family planning and participation in national development. This is the goal of the FP2030 commitment,” he said.
