FG to Raise Health Budget Allocation to 10 per cent

The Federal Government has said it will increase the country’s health budget allocation to 10 per cent.

The Special Adviser to the President on Health, Dr. Salma Anas, said this at the ‘Gate Field 2023 Health Summit’ in Abuja.

She said the President Bola Tinubu-led administration is committed to strengthening the healthcare systems, improving the health and well-being of Nigerians for better productivity.

She said the president’s unwavering support will explore innovative strategies that will ensure and generate revenue for the country’s healthcare sector.

She said, “The President said he will raise allocation for health to start from 10 per cent of the total budgetary allocation, which must go to the health sector.

“Based on our demonstration of capacity to use, an indication of accountability, the president will increase more.

“The president is ready to support us with more resources, this is because of his vision to reach 50 million vulnerable Nigerians through insurance coverage.”

Dr. Anas said more Primary Healthcare Centres facilities would be set up, and secondary healthcare facilities improved to be a link and immediate referral for the PHCs facilities.

She said this would connect with the tertiary institutions to provide mentorship in capacity building for optimal healthcare services.

Also, the President, Nigerian Cancer Society and Co-Chair, National Action on Sugar Reduction Coalition, Dr. Adamu Umar, said consuming Sugar-Sweetened Beverages contributed to non-communicable diseases such as type two diabetes, cancer and heart diseases.

He said that about 11.2 million Nigerians or one in 17 adults were living with Type two diabetes, and between 2007 and 2021, Nigeria recorded a growth in per-capita soft drinks sales from nine million to 14 million.

He said, “The direct and indirect cost of obesity, Type two diabetes and other non-communicable diseases are huge.

“The national direct cost of diabetes in Nigeria is estimated at 3.5 to 4.5 billion dollars per year or N300,000 per patient.

“The cost of treating diabetes is more than Nigeria’s entire health budget.”

The Founder, Medicaid Foundation, Dr. Zainab Bagudu, said increased taxation on SBBs taxes was introduced in 2022 after a lot of advocacies.

She said, “We must keep advocating so that these funds can be allocated to the health sector, especially for non-communicable diseases.

“We must work together to achieve our goal and hope that we will have a very concrete outcome that we can follow through to improve the health sector and reduce out-of-pocket spending for ordinary Nigerians.”

Health Communication Specialist, Gatefield, Ms. Omei Bongos-Ikwue, said the summit was an awakening conversation around increased taxation on SSBs to channel the funds to the health system.

She said, “What we are advocating for is a 20 per cent tax, currently the N10 per cent litre tax is about 6.7 per cent.

“We ask for a higher tax so that whatever we raise as revenue can be significant, relevant and channelled to healthcare, which we will feel the difference.”

She also stressed the need for the implementation of governance mechanisms to ensure accountability mechanisms for the use of the tax revenue from SSBs.

-NAN