Private sector collaboration and Nigeria’s health sector
Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PHN), the recently launched private sector coalition, focused on accelerating Nigeria’s progress in achieving the health-related MDGs by 2015 and beyond is no doubt a good case of private sector collaboration.
This collaboration is noteworthy and remarkable in an environment where for long people have been laid back with the mentality that government alone wields the magic wand that can put an end to all problems. The multifarious challenges facing governments in Nigeria, justifies not only a Public Private Partnership (PPP), as has since been adopted, but also a self-driven private sector collaboration targeting critical areas of human development that will impact positively on all.
It is against this background that we commend the noble initiative of Nigeria’s entrepreneurial and business community to come together towards achieving health related Millenium Development Goals (MDGs).
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight in number. The health related ones, numbers 4, 5 and 6, are to reduce child mortality rate; to improve maternal health; to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. The other five border on poverty, education, gender parity, environment and partnership.
The PHN led by Aliko Dangote, Jim Ovia, Aigboje Aig-Imokhuede, Muhammad Ali Pate, Sola David-Borha and others was sparked by Bill Gates in 2010 during a high level private sector roundtable for health with business leaders, and it is expected to be tailored after the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The body is expected to ride on the wide reach of the Nigerian private health sector, which serves all income levels including the poor and vulnerable segments, and accounts for at least 60 percent of healthcare service provision in Nigeria.
The coalition has a focused strategy to meet its objective of building a world-class private sector-led coalition that accelerates Nigeria’s progress in achieving MDGs 4, 5 and 6 by 2015 and beyond. It would mobilise and inspire Nigeria’s private sector to harness its collective capabilities to realise synergies for catalytic impact.
With a three-pronged vision anchored on collective responsibility, compassion and integrity, Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq the director-general of the PHN has assured that PHN would take ownership and be collectively responsible for achieving MDGs 4, 5 and 6; save the lives of women and children which is at the heart of everything they do, and be driven by strong moral and business principles, respectively.
It is pertinent to recall that Nigeria loses about 2,300 under 5 year-olds and 145 women of child bearing age daily. Thus the country is the 2nd largest contributor to child and maternal mortality globally. On AIDS/HIV, a recent HIV seroprevalence figure reveals that up to 3.5 million Nigerians are infected with HIV. Nigeria is ranked 3rd among countries with high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the world, after India and South Africa.
In Africa, malaria is the third leading cause of death for children under five. It is also the second leading cause of death from infectious diseases in Africa, after HIV/AIDS. Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia and Uganda account for nearly 50 percent of the global malaria deaths. Also malaria
As much as the tasks set are noble, there is no doubt that the challenges are enormous. We urge the PHN to remain committed and avoid any distractions knowing well that the cause they have chosen if properly pursued will rub off positively on human capital that is a fundamental ingredient for business and economic growth. We equally urge relevant public sector agencies and officials to encourage the efforts of the PHN and not deter their efforts through needless and obstructive bureaucracy.