The Coordinating Minister for Health & Social Welfare Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate launched the Nigeria Climate Change and Health Vulnerability Assessment Report, with a commitment to build a resilient system that will address its impact across the country.
Prof. Pate launched the Report during the last day of intensive interactive sessions and fruitful engagements of 2024 Joint Annual Review meeting on Health, spanning 6- 8 November 2024.
He affirmed that the Ministry working with the direction of the President initiated a 4-point Blueprint agenda for transforming the health sector, which he noted, has health security as its fourth pillar for addressing climate change vis a vis its health vulnerability assessment.
To this end, he asserted that “climate change is a wicked problem. It’s a wicked problem in the sense that it is complex, it’s multi-perceptive. It interconnects with several other elements and, when we solve one, on another problem actually features”.
Citing instances of the dynamics of this phenomenon on Nigeria’s population and Demographic Health Survey from the assessment report presentations; Prof Pate said it manifested in the rising temperature impact on air quality, respiratory infections; whether its in flooding and, aerial diseases or water contamination.
” Whether its in the injuries that we saw in Maiduguri and a few of other states this year or the flooding or in parts of Lagos State where we saw cholera outbreaks. Because of rising water table, whether its in the protracted cycle of transmission of malaria or the dengue fever that we saw in Sokoto a few months ago. Or flooding that destroys farmlands. So this is a very complex issue*, he explained.
The Launching of the Nigeria Climate Change and Vulnerability Assessment Report, the Coordinating Minister stated, is a significant and proactive plan by the Federal Government to expand primary health care system, provide vaccination in the reproductive health of women and, provision of better surveillance systems to deal with infectious diseases.
He seized the opportunity to urge development partners to compliment the federal government’s efforts and resources aimed at adaptation to build resilient community systems.
INAUGURATION OF EXPERT WORKING GROUP ON miniPHS survey
While inaugurating the expert working group on population health survey; the Honourable Coordinating Minister for Health & Social Welfare Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate stated that it’s main objective is to strengthen the foundations of our national health data system and, to ensure that we can accurately track and measure our progress within the sector.
Affirming the necessity of this survey; the Coordinating Minister said ” If you don’t know where you are going, to say any road will take there because you don’t know where you are going, but now we have a north- south, we know where we’re going, and we can be able to measure how far we are making progress together in that direction.
So, it is my privilege to inaugurate the expert working group, which will be tasked by guiding the fundamental demographic and health survey, bridging the gap between five-year NDHS surveys. The introduction of the annual miniNDHS survey presents our commitment to more frequent, reliable, actionable data and is an essential step towards ensuring that no community or health issue is left overlooked…”, he stated
Membership of the expert working group, according to the Coordinating Minister include :
a. Director, Health Planning Research & Statistics Department of the FMoH
b. National Bureau of Statistics
c. National Population Commission
d National Primary Health Care Agency
e. National Health Insurance Authority
f. National Centre for Disease Control
g. SWAp Coordination Office
h. GFF, UNICEF, WHO, USAID, ICF micro, Bill & Mellinda Gates Foundation and, World Bank.
Alaba Balogun
Deputy Director
( Information & PR)
