By Chukwudi Nweje
Assistant Editor
Civil society organisations (CSOs) have urged the Lagos State government to increase its budgets for fighting childhood killer diseases.
A delegation from the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health (PACFaH) made the plea in Ikeja when it visited Lagos State Health Service Commission Permanent Secretary, Jemilade Longe.
PSC-PACFaH is a social accountability project implemented through partnership building of indigenous CSOs, champions, and activists to ensure the government at national and state levels fulfills commitments to child and family health.
The project began in 2014.
It mobilises CSOs, faith based organisations (FBOs), professional associations, and community based organisations (CBOs) along with the media and individuals to elicit government’s responsiveness on policies, budgets, and administration in child and family health.
PSC-PACFaH focuses on four key areas – treatment of childhood pneumonia and diarrhea; family planning; routine immunisation; and nutrition.
The project aims to improve the accountability of government at national and state levels to deliver on commitments by increasing budgets and expenditures and enacting policies and guidelines for improved child and family health.
Lagos State PSC-PACFaH Coordinator, Henry Adenigba, disclosed that the body is working in three states, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.
He said the visit was to appreciate the efforts of the Lagos State government in the key areas of its work and also demand for an improvement.
Advocacy group leader, Vickie Uremma Njoku, noted that pneumonia and diarrhea still account for the death of many children under five years old and urged the Health Services Commission to allocate more funds to tackle childhood killer diseases in the 2017 budget.
Longe thanked the team for the visit and advised it to also visit the state Ministry of Health which formulates policy and allocates budget.
He assured that the government will continue to do its best to improve on the healthcare needs of all residents of the state, who he said are entitled to healthcare irrespective of age, sex, or ailment.