Experts and stakeholders have charged media with consistent and adequate reporting on effective Universal Health Coverage delivery in Nigeria and across the globe.
Stakeholders at a Media Science Café during the 11th Biennial Conference of the Africa Christian Health Associations Platform (ACHAP), also called on the Federal Government to support faith-based health institutions that offer healthcare services to the grassroots communities.
Health Consultant and Journalist from India, Dr. Jaya Charni in her remarks, disclosed that over one hundred and twenty countries had been reached out to in order for people of the world to adequately be part of their health care initiative and thereby help to keep democracy going in health and humanitarian areas.
Charni also disclosed that UHC enables people to have information for useful choice while variable information is only formulated by journalists with good intentions for news coverage to people’s doorsteps adding that Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone were great beneficiaries on the African continent.
“Universal health coverage (UHC) means everyone has access to the full range of quality health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship.
ALSO READ: Soludo extols Obasanjo at 87
“UHC protects people from out-of-pocket health expenditure and reduces the risk that people will be pushed into poverty because the cost of needed services and treatments require them to use up their life savings, sell assets, or borrow – destroying their futures and often those of their children.
“At the heart of UHC are skilled health care workers who are equitably distributed and adequately supported with access to quality medical supplies.
“UHC remains distant for much of the population because globally, health service coverage has not improved since 2015.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, coverage became further compromised in a staggering 92% of countries. Most have yet to restore health services to pre-pandemic levels.”
“WHO estimates that about 4.5 billion people in 2021 did not receive the full range of essential health services.
“Faith-based organizations (FBOs) deliver a significant proportion of essential health services through primary health care – the backbone of UHC – in sub-Saharan Africa. A strategic partnership between health professionals, FBOs and journalists can focus public attention on UHC and push decision-makers in government and civil society to invest adequately to meet the target of UHC by 2030, as stated in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
Also, a Lecturer at the Veritas University Abuja, Reverend Fr. Genesis Onah seeks Federal Government support for the faith-based health institutions that offer healthcare services to Nigerians at the grassroots level, in order to achieve Universal Health Coverage from bottom strategy
Onah, who also represented a regional Christian hospital, Our Lady of Fatima, Hospital Bwari, maintained that faith-based health institutions provide quality and affordable healthcare services to Nigerians in a transparent manner making them strategic in the quest to attain global health targets.
He said: “There is no community without worship centres. In fact, the high rate of worship centres in contemporary society is undisputed.”
Associate Vice President, Global Health, IMA World Health Corus International, Dr Dennis Cherian emphasized the need for citizens to access primary healthcare as a fundamental right.
