The Ogun State Government has reiterated its commitment to focus more on Primary Healthcare Services, to ensure provision of qualitative and affordable healthcare for the citizenry.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, who made this known during a press conference in his office at Oke- Mosan, Abeokuta, to commemorate the 2019 World Health Day tagged, ” Universal Health Coverage: Everyone, Everywhere”, said government would continue to make available quality and affordable drugs in all health facilities across the State.
Ipaye noted that the essence of the day was to create awareness about access to good health for everyone and an opportunity to induce global attention to health issues each year, saying the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led administration had made huge investment in human, as well as, provision of infrastructural and Healthcare services.
He highlighted some of the achievements of the State health indices to include; 85 percent increase in Immunisation Coverage for 2018, which was above the National target of 80 percent, as well as an increase in the uptake of Long Acting Reversible Contraceptive (LARC) from 32,054 in 2017 to 57,218 in 2018.
The Commissioner added that the State had made available preventive drugs and protective devices to curtail outbreak of epidemic diseases, saying the populace had also been educated on the need to be proactive and maintain personal and environmental hygiene, in order to keep communicable diseases at bay.
Speaking, the Executive Secretary, Primary Health Care Development Board, Dr. Elijah Ogunsola said that the State had been able to improve on public health, as a way of showing zero tolerance for malnutrition, noting that it has also put in place, a health Insurance Scheme, to make Healthcare affordable to all.
In her goodwill message, the Manager, Central and West Africa, Nestle Nutrition Institute Africa (NNIA), Chioma Emme- Nwachukwu, said that the Institute would continue to partner with the State Government to train and retrain health workers on how to identify and manage malnutrition in growing children, especially in their first three years, noting that this determines the latter days of human physical growth and development.
