According to the World Health Organization, primary health care is the most efficient and cost-effective approach to achieving universal health insurance. This is an integrated, people-centric approach to health and well-being, starting with individuals, families and communities. It is the foundation of a medical system that provides people with medical care and provides quality medical care whenever they need it.
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) was established in 1992 to support national health policies related to the development of primary health care. Its mission is to promote and support the implementation of quality and sustainable primary health care systems through leadership, advocacy and resource mobilization, partnerships, capacity building and collaboration with relevant stakeholders. included.
Over the years, the Nigerian government has come up with health development plans that exclude primary health care. However, in the 1980s, under Professor Olikoye Ransome Kuti, then Minister of Health, the federal government began to make primary health care the core of public health development programs. Various implementations to achieve the goal of providing grassroots quality, effective, efficient, equitable, affordable, reliable, acceptable, comprehensive and accessible medical services Stages have been developed.
Some of NPHCDA’s achievements have recently included “save one million lives”, SOML, country-led and country-led initiatives, but some development partners, philanthropists, civil society organizations, etc. , Implemented in collaboration with several partners. He also established the Nigerian State Health Investment Project (NSHIP). It improves the quality of care in primary health care facilities and provides medical facilities with administrative autonomy, especially in municipal areas.
It also established the National Emergency Routine Immunoregulation Center (NERICC) with the vision of achieving at least 80% immune coverage against all Nigerian antigens by 2028 to control the full implementation of routine immunization. Provides domestic and quasi-domestic coordination mechanisms forAbove all the program
The main challenges over the years have been inadequate governance, inadequate medical funding, human resources for health, underutilization of primary health care facilities by individuals and communities, and poor worker attitudes. did.
However, the biggest challenge facing Nigeria’s primary health care is ignoring the preventive side. We must now shift our focus to include prevention from the completely curative aspect of primary health services. We have seen the achievements and challenges 44 years from now, but we are still not where we should be.
X-rays of all NPHCDA programs clearly support therapeutic medical services on the premises of medical facilities rather than outside the facilities where the general public lives and endangers the environment.
Now that we know many aspects of the medical infrastructure, services provided between women and children, it is appropriate to have data from the primary health care level on the water sources of our community.For example, in the case of a well, the percentage of facilities, whether the well is standard / sanitary or not. [residential, industrial, school, hospital, etc.] With toilet [and its type]Percentage of regulated or unregulated restaurants, proportion of schools with appropriate buildings, sanitary facilities, health centers or emergency rooms, health centers with appropriate waste disposal, clinics, primary health Percentage of care centers, etc.
The data generated, when analyzed and interpreted, helps address many gaps in the prevention and management of many diseases. Issues such as community hygiene, health, safety and the environment, environmental health laboratories, disease prevention and management can all be addressed and documented.
Environmental health officers dealing with this aspect of work are available in all states, but focus only on clinical services, regardless of whether they are practitioners of primary health care workers or the relevance of their work in primary health care. Therefore, it is not used accordingly. level. It is estimated that 40 percent of the world’s deaths are caused by environmental factors.
Many policies such as national policies on injection safety and medical waste management, school hygiene policy guidelines, market and meat processing plant hygiene policy guidelines, environmental hygiene control legislation, food and pharmaceutical legislation, etc. there is. NPHCDA needs to contact them to see how their services can be keyed in primary health care centers and subsequent management. The National Guidelines for the Development of Nigeria’s Primary Health Care System did not recognize them as partners, but delegated them to community health extension workers as part of the health care personnel whose work is mentioned. It has been.
Therefore, as long as “use of available resources” is the philosophy of primary health care, there are no non-essential executives. Therefore, we look at what we have and task shifts and other expected results.
NPHCDA also has a water sanitation and sanitation sector in the majority of the state and is located in either the local government or water resources and / or local water and supply, so it is a water sanitation component within the scope of primary health services. Needs to be revived. About the state. Activities in this sector are so important that they cannot be left outside of primary medical services.
Now that primary health care services are being transformed, transformed, reformed and rethought, we are diversifying the scope of our activities and expanding to cover not only therapeutic aspects but also essential aspects of health. The time has come. Primary health services should not be limited to clinical services alone, as health is defined by ecological, holistic, and high-level health concepts.
NPHCDA has all interests related to developing future plans with short-term, medium-term and long-term goals with a timeline to measure success based on the long-standing outcomes and challenges of primary health care in Nigeria. Stakeholders must be included.
With political will and good governance, the implementation of new plans, and strong partnerships between the government and other development partners, the future of primary health services will certainly be better.
Sanigarubamohamed Kano’s Primary Health Care Management Committee karaye@gmail.com
