A Social anthropologist, Abieyuwa Abel has called on the Federal Government to use the National Health Act, NHA, 2014, to fast-track Universal Health Coverage, UHC in Nigeria.
Abel was speaking in commemoration of International Day of UHC on December 12th unanimously endorsed the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA, a resolution urging countries to accelerate progress toward UHC, with the 2019 theme: ‘Keep the Promise’.
According to her, resource mobilisation and accountability are key factors for successful implementation of the National Health Act. She added that the Act is a viable framework, the implementation of which could help the country and its people achieve UHC.
The Social anthropologist said that though there was substantial evidence that public financing was key to the achievement of UHC, government expenditure on health remained had low, with domestic resource mobilisation weak.
In 2014, the United Nations, UN started to observe December
12th as UHC Day, to commemorate the date on which the General Assembly
officially recognised the importance of UHC.
