Winifred Bosa.

Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria (HEFRON) and the Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health ( PACFaH) , have called for appropriate allocation, prompt release  and value for money utilization  of health sector budget by the government.

The groups also charged health journalists under the auspices of Health Writers Association of Nigeria

(HEWAN) to live up to their responsibilities of being the watchdog of the society  and investigate on health allocation, releases and utilization so as to provide a strong rationale for the need to increase attention to health sector funding .

The program officer of HEFRON ,Ms Aanu’ Rotimi who  stated this at the recent HEWAN 7th annual symposium at Lagos University Teaching Hospital , LUTH while delivering a paper on “The Role Of Media In Advocating For Increase Health Sector Budget observed that health financing issues not widely covered by the media .

She said , “Health news rarely makes it to the headlines or cover page . There is limited investigation on health sector funding .  Limited experts and interest groups to track and report health outcomes to health financing and limited demand in accountability “.

Using Lagos as a point of reference, the HEFRON program officer observed , “Lagos State is the commercial capital of Nigeria but has lagged behind in health sector budgeting. In 2017, almost N900 billion was the approved Lagos State budget (the biggest of any State in Nigeria’s history). Yet, the health sector budget for 2017 was slashed from N57 billion (proposed) to N51 billion by the State House of Assembly”, and therefore called on HEWAN to monitor and evaluate government health programs and policies especially funding .

On the issue of when will  the budget start working for the people? , what percentage of the health allocation will be released? , how timely will the releases be? and how will  the released funds be utilized? , Ms Rotimi urged the HEWAN as critical stakeholders in advocating for improved health outcomes to push for more attention on health funding as it relates to economic development.

She therefore called on health journalists to be active champion for increased Health Sector budget by giving health funding issues priority and prominence ,

advocate for open government – publicly disclose budget performance and make health budget information accessible to ordinary citizens, and identify, document and publish positive stories, best practices and success stories on increased and efficient use of funding resources as well as innovative ways