In September 2000, 189 world leaders made a commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Three of the eight goals relate directly to health:
To reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters;
To reduce child mortality by two-thirds; and
To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Health is also an essential component of three further targets:
To halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger;
To improve access to safe drinking water and sanitation; and
To ensure affordable access to essential drugs
The 2003 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), which provides data to track progress towards the country’s attainment of the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), shows the following:
Very low immunization coverage
High infant/child and maternal mortality rates
High prevalence of malaria
10% reduction in HIV prevalence rate but with over 3 million people infected
These poor health indicators have been due largely to the weak national health system, which the current comprehensive health sector reform is trying to address. In Nigeria, the poor state of our health system can be attributed to the following:
Inadequate funding
Lack of medical equipments and supplies
Poor maintenance culture of existing infrastructure
Poor staffing
Consequently, the Health Systems Development (HSD) Practice was established with the following objectives:
Improve the performance of public and private health care providers and health service organizations.
Enhance the quality of essential health services available to people in need.
Increase options for health care providers to combat public health challenges such as HIV/AIDS.
Develop responsive training and learning solutions for health services.
Integrate non-training solutions including process improvement, supervision, and provider motivation into existing health services.
Advance health policy and organizational reform.
All of our objectives will be achieved through the adoption of an evidence-based response to the identified challenges afflicting our health system which incorporates:
Health Human Resources Assessment (including manpower capacity assessment)
Health Facilities Assessment and Inventory ((including health equipment status and their utilization rates)
Appropriate responses are then developed and implemented to address the findings of the assessments and inventories.
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