The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has described Nigeria’s ongoing health sector reforms as central to advancing the continent’s priorities for transforming Primary Health Care (PHC) systems.
The Director of Primary Health Care (PHC) at the Africa CDC, Landry Tsague, said this on Tuesday in Abuja at the opening of a three-day Continental Consultation on Community Health.
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The Africa CDC convened the consultation with UNICEF and the African Union Commission (AUC).
The event, titled “Validation of the 2024 Community Health Landscape Survey: Shaping the CHW Strategy, Scorecard and Strategic Action”, brought together delegates from all 55 African Union Member States.
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The aim was to validate the survey findings and shape future strategies for effective community health delivery across the continent.
Nigeria’s reforms
Mr Tsague lauded Nigeria’s reforms, which he said were built on domestic financing, community engagement, and transparent governance.
Some of the reforms he might be referring to include the ongoing revitalisation of one PHC per ward, the implementation of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), and the expansion of the Community Health Influencers, Promoters and Services (CHIPS) programme to improve grassroots service delivery.
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“Nigeria’s experience offers a replicable model for other Member States and a strong foundation for peer learning, high-level advocacy, and regional collaboration,” he said.
Mr Tsague also commended President Bola Tinubu’s role as the AU Champion for Health Workforce and Community Health Delivery Partnership, citing his leadership as key to galvanising continental efforts to scale up PHC systems.
“Investment in PHC and Community Health Workers (CHWs) is both a political and economic imperative for Africa’s development,” he said.
He highlighted Africa CDC’s “Five Plus One” PHC transformation strategy, which includes workforce transformation, digital and infrastructure transformation, commodity security, financial access, and quality of care and data.
Mr Tsague noted that governance and accountability serve as the sixth pillar, anchoring the entire framework to support resilient and people-centred health systems.
Nigeria’s commitment to the AU goal
Declaring the meeting open, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, reaffirmed the country’s commitment to the AU’s goal of deploying two million CHWs across Africa by 2030.
“CHWs are our first line of defence, the custodians of health education and the link between our health system and communities,” he said.
Mr Salako noted that Nigeria had tripled the number of CHWs trained annually over the past three years and is integrating digital platforms into community service delivery.
He added that the country is also aligning its health budgets through basket fund mechanisms to strengthen community health financing.
UNICEF’s Deputy Representative in Nigeria, Rownak Khan, emphasised the role of CHWs in reducing under-five mortality in countries like Rwanda, Malawi, and Ethiopia.
“For every $1 invested in community health, the return exceeds $10,” she said, adding that increased political will across Africa makes the AU’s goal of deploying one million additional CHWs within four years achievable.
More interventions
Also speaking, Muyi Aina, executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), said the agency had redesigned Nigeria’s national community health programme in partnership with state governments and development partners.
Represented by Ngozi Nwosu, director of PHC Systems Development, Mr Aina said that 70,000 Community-Based Health Workers (CBHWs) would be recruited, trained, and deployed by 2029, one CBHW per 250 households, targeting 160 million Nigerians.
He added that NPHCDA would provide time-bound salary support to states, enabling them to transition CBHWs into their civil service structures.
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“So far, eight states, Bauchi, Borno, Niger, Kaduna, Yobe, Zamfara, Katsina and Ebonyi, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, while five have begun recruitment,” he said.
“The agency will also provide training, job aids, commodities, and digital tools to support integrated service delivery.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the three-day consultation will develop a Community Health Scorecard, strategic recommendations, and a continental framework to support the AU’s 2030 target for CHW deployment.
(NAN)
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