Govt warns against reliance on external health data

The Federal Government has warned against the reliance on health data from externally sources like International bodies, instead of the Federal Ministry of Health.

Cordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate said his Ministry is the authentic and authoritative source for health data in the country.

The Minister who was represented by the Director planning research and statistics, Dr. Chris Isokpunwu made this call yesterday in Abuja at the strategic retreat of Principal officers of thr National Assembly for the Development of the Legislative Health Agenda (LHA) of the 10th Assembly health Committees.

He said due to the available data in the Ministry, lawmakers and the government would be able to make budgetary allocations, informed by the available data which would help with the allocations of resources.

His words, “We know that for us to make progress in health, we need to have strategic data and to strategically use that data. How can we know how to budget if you do not know exactly how many people we’re budgeting for, or the situation so data is very critical.

We want to strengthen governance, to improve population health outcomes, focus on improving the economic value chain for health as well as public health security and all of these are all galvanised by data because whatever decision you want to take, if you have the right kind of information and data, coming out from a quality source then you are likely to get it right.

“The point is that the Federal Ministry of Health is the authentic and authoritative source for health data in the country. So if you want to, quote health data, quote data from the Federal Ministry of Health.

There are challenges of people quoting data that are not authenticated by the Federal Minister of Health, the ministry is the authority for data requisotory in the country. Budgetary allocations informed by the available, by what your data is telling you. So if, for example, you know that 18% of children have not received vaccination, your data would also point to where these children are, so you know how to budget, how to allocate resources and how to target interventions.”

One of the partners of the retreat, Development, Research And Project Centre (dRPC) said the aim is for the leadership of the last assembly to transfer knowledge to the present assembly.

Director of Projects DRPC, Dr. Stanley Ukpai, said, “The retreat is an opportunity for the legislators, especially in the Health Committee to become well acquainted with some of the issues as a form of continuity in the transition process where knowledge is being transferred from the leadership of the last assembly to this assembly. I think it’s a good opportunity for them to get familiar with some of the issues belabouring the health care sector.

“I think it’s a buildup on the last administration. I think this is one of the things that we had as challenges, that there isn’t any continuity and I think this is a good example of what continuity can be a launchpad for by consolidating on the gains that the previous administration has achieved and the begin to reduce the indices of things like maternal mortality, neonatal mortality and the rest.”

Chair, Senate Committee on Health Sen. Ipalibo Banigo said the retreat is aimed at setting the agenda for the Nigerian health system for the next four years.

She said the objective is to enlighten the principal officers of the National Assembly on the critical challenges of Nigeria’s health sector and the efforts towards improving health outcomes and attaining the Universal health coverage.