Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
In order to bridge the gap created by the stoppage of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Nigeria, the House of Representatives has made case for a Healthcare Trust Fund to increase the funding gap in the health sector.
The chairman, House Committee on HIV/Aids, Malaria and Tuberculosis, Amobi Ogah, made the call, while speaking with journalists, in Abuja, after an interactive session with the Minister of Health, Mohammed Pate.
Ogah said that this is imperative to close the funding gaps in the health sector.
According to him, ” a lot of countries in Africa are struggling at this moment.I just came back from Tanzania on the issue of health and materials. So I think there is need. Like we have an education fund.There is what is called TETFUND.
“It’s very, very important.I think looking at the challenges we are facing at the moment, we don’t want to continue facing such challenges because it happened this way today.We don’t know the way it will happen tomorrow. If not, we have a minister who is already part of the system there, it won’t be that easy for us”.
Pate, while addressing the committee, had said the federal government is taking steps to address funding gaps in the health care delivery, in the aftermath of withdrawal of donor support by the United States of America.
He emphasized that though the withdrawal of donor support by the US was sudden, some initiatives by the government in the health sector were already yielding fruits.
According to him, these initiatives and intervention by the government in healthcare delivery has helped to mitigate the impact of the withdrawal of funding for certain health programmes by the US government on Nigeria.