By Felicia Imohimi
Abuja – Health Finance and Governance, an NGO, on Monday urged all tiers of government to prioritize the implementation of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) to ensure social protection for the populace.
Dr Gafar Alawode, Chief of Party, Health Finance and Governance, made the call at a road walk in Abuja to commemorate the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day usually observed every December 12.
The theme of the celebration was: “Act with ambition’’.
Alawode said that the day was a rallying point for the growing movement for good health for all, adding that it marked the UN historic and unanimous endorsement of UHC in 2012.
According to him, the total essence of UHC is for people to be able to access the needed healthcare without suffering financial hardship.
Alawode said that UHC implementation would strengthen the social contrast between the government and the governed.
He said that part of the implementation of UHC included the implementation of the National Health Act to transform the healthcare financing landscape at the national and state levels.
He however stressed that full implementation of the Act would further ensure that nobody faced any financial hardship in trying to access healthcare services.
Alawode said that the government had the responsibilities to protect its citizens and part of the protection was social protection in healthcare.
“We do not want a situation where people while trying to access healthcare are thrown into poverty as a result.
“We don’t want a situation where some will even sell their belongings to attend to their health needs rather we want them to access healthcare without having any financial hardship.
“So, we want everybody at any point in time to be able to access healthcare. When we say universal health coverage, we are talking about the number of people covered; service coverage is not always enough.
“We want the general populace to be able to access the needed healthcare and we want to be protected from financial hardship as a result of universal health coverage,’’ he said.
Alawode said that the notion of investment in health as a wasted venture by government and some among others was wrong.
He said that investment in health would boost the nation’s economy and provide employment as more people in the country would be healthy.