The federal government says no fewer than 2.1 million pregnant women are now accessing antenatal care services under the reforms being implemented through the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative (NHSRII).

The coordinator of the Sector Wide Approach (SWAp), Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq, spoke during a media conference on ongoing health sector reforms, the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Compact and the state of Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC) readiness across Nigeria.

Mr Umar-Sadiq said ongoing health sector reforms were delivering measurable results across priority local government areas nationwide.

According to him, the reforms are designed to address longstanding governance, infrastructure, accountability and human resource challenges affecting healthcare delivery across federal, state and local government levels.

“The point of this reform is to address some of the longstanding issues that we’ve had in the health sector, everything from limited coordination and fragmentation to infrastructure and data issues,” he said.

Mr Umar-Sadiq said governance remained central to the reforms, stressing that improving healthcare outcomes required efficient organisation of the sector and stronger accountability mechanisms beyond increased funding alone.

“The right solutions are not necessarily about more money into the system. Governance, how we organise the sector for delivery and accountability frameworks are at the heart of addressing issues,” he said.

He disclosed that the federal government, in partnership with states, assessed 774 CEmONC facilities and identified critical infrastructure and equipment gaps.

He added that 251 secondary health facilities across the country would receive medical equipment aimed at strengthening emergency obstetric and newborn care services in labour wards, theatres and neonatal units.

He said the equipment package would support labour rooms, pharmacies, laboratories, operating theatres and neonatal units to improve maternal and newborn emergency response capabilities across health facilities.

Mr Umar-Sadiq said the reforms were also addressing demand-side barriers through the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) by supporting reimbursement for Caesarean sections and treatment of obstetric complications.

He revealed that no fewer than 259 health facilities had already been empanelled under the programme, while over 42,000 maternal and neonatal services had been reimbursed across the country.

“Over 4,000 women and neonates have benefited from free caesarean sections,” the SWAp coordinator said, while highlighting interventions supporting maternal and newborn healthcare access in priority areas.

He further disclosed that no fewer than 3,000 primary healthcare centres had been revitalised nationwide, while over 3,000 community healthcare workers had also been recruited and deployed to underserved communities.

According to him, 172 local government areas accounting for nearly 55 per cent of maternal deaths are currently being prioritised under the ongoing intervention programme.

“We are localising the issues and ensuring that states lead responses to context-specific challenges,” Umar-Sadiq explained while outlining implementation strategies adopted under the reform programme.

On sustainability, he said the reforms had been structured around a pay-for-results model to ensure states assume ownership of healthcare interventions and improve accountability in implementation processes.

“What we have designed is a programme where states use their resources to revitalise facilities and recruit healthcare workers, and then we pay them after the fact,” he said.

He explained that unlike previous interventions, the new health compact signed by the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory clearly defined obligations, monitoring mechanisms and performance indicators.

“For the first time, we now have a unified accountability framework spelling out expectations from states and the federal government,” Mr Umar-Sadiq said.

The SWAp coordinator added that quarterly performance reviews were now being conducted with states to track progress on maternal mortality, healthcare workforce deployment and facility revitalisation.

According to him, the reforms were already yielding positive outcomes, including increased healthcare utilisation, rising skilled birth attendance and reductions in facility-based maternal mortality rates within intervention areas.

“We are now seeing that utilisation of services is picking up. Deliveries by skilled birth attendants are increasing and facility-based maternal mortality rates are reducing from baseline,” he stated.

Mr Umar-Sadiq acknowledged challenges affecting recruitment and retention of healthcare workers amid rising migration of professionals abroad, but said investments were being made to strengthen workforce production.

 (NAN)