On the 22nd of November, the 3rd edition The National Health Dialogue on Primary Health Care Financing was organized and hosted by the Center of Journalism and International Development(CJID) and in partnership with Premium Times Nigeria and with support from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The event brought together a host of speakers, panelists, and guests who shared remarkable perspectives and recommendations for the health financing in the country.
There were four panel sessions, one of which was led by the veteran Journalist and Founder of International Society of Media in Public Health, Moji Makanjuola on the topic “2023 Elections: What are the health priorities to focus on?”. The panel included Akolade Jimoh, a consummate Management Consultant and a seasoned international development expert, alongside Dr Francis Ajomah, Afolabi Adekaiyaoja, and Busola Ajibola.
Speaking to the innovations that can be put in place to ensure that health is prioritized as a political mandate for the political class, Akolade Jimoh pointed out that the first step to take would be to look at the issue from the perspective of understanding what the problem really is. According to Akolade Jimoh, we should first ask the question, “Do we or the government really understand what the problem is?”. He shared that the problem really must be considered from two points of view; the perspectives of demand and supply of health financing.
‘’As a consultant who has been in the field and has engaged with people at the grassroots across the different parts of the country, I have learned that the people are actually not asking for too much as it concerns their health needs. The problem arises majorly from the fact that there exists a gap between the demand and supply of health financing’’, says Akolade Jimoh.
“This problem arises from the fact that the government and other stakeholders are not properly informed, nor do they understand what the health needs of the people are. This makes it really difficult for the appropriate and necessary actions to be taken by the government and stakeholders to attend to the health needs of the people.”
“The other side of the coin is the demand side, where you find that the people are majorly uninformed or misinformed about the diverse interventions by the government to improve the situation of things in the health sector. One can then clearly see that the inefficiencies recorded in health financing is a result of this discrepancy in the demand and supply of health financing.”
“I strongly believe that if we will prioritize health as a political mandate for our political class, our approach and innovations must be strategic and deliberately targeted at closing this gap in the demand and supply of health financing. Alongside adequate communication and engagement at the grassroot, the government should continue to make it an objective to understand and be adequately informed on the health priorities of the people. With this gap closed, we can then begin to see the progressive improvement we desire for health financing in the country.”
