Uche Amaonwu: Nigeria’s health challenges will be resolved if PHCs are working well

Uche Amaonwu, the country director of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), says the bulk of Nigeria’s health challenges will be addressed if primary healthcare centres are functioning well.

Amaonwu spoke on Thursday during the PHC leadership challenge awards ceremony at the banquet hall of Aso Villa, Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

The PHC leadership challenge is an initiative of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), in partnership with The United Nations Educational Fund (UNICEF), the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), and supported by BMGF.

The initiative was designed to incentivise and recognise exceptional leadership in the delivery of primary healthcare services in the subnationals.

In his remark during the ceremony, Amaonwu said the foundation is committed to the initiative because it elevates PHC issues to the front burner of governance engagement.

The country director encouraged governors to use the fund obtained from the award to “drive meaningful interventions that are catalytic and can help to move things”.

“The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is proud to associate itself with this partnership on the Primary Health Care (PHC) Leadership Challenge,” the country director said.

“And I think it is not only because the baseline of the commitment started out in Seattle when a number of your Excellences visited and were hosted by Mr Bill Gates and made the powerful commitment to improve outcomes.

“But it is also because we believe that the bulk of the health challenges that Nigeria faces can be addressed through well functioning PHCs that are able to reach most of the people who need help in an equitable fashion.

“That is why we are proud to support the design of this award to put grant funding in place for the winning states to pursue catalytic PHC interventions.

“Whether it’s something as simple as developing that starts with identifying where the poorest health outcomes in your states exist and working through optimizing your health workforce, or the supplies that are used to treat people or to put a system in place to track how you are doing to measure your performance over time.

“It depends largely on the priorities in your states. But we encourage you to use the funds to drive meaningful intervention that are catalytic and can help to move things.”