A non-governmental organisation, Nigeria Solidarity Support Fund, said it impacted 32 million lives in its four years of operating in the country’s health system.

The Managing Director, Dr Fejiro Chinye-Nwoko, made the disclosure in Lagos on Wednesday.

According to her, the feat was achieved through four pillars including health service delivery, healthcare workforce development, health literacy, and policy advocacy.

She said, “On health service delivery, we had 4.9 million people receive vaccination for COVID 19; 156,125 under-five children immunised against childhood diseases; 20,651 pregnant women vaccinated against tetanus and diphtheria. For the healthcare workforce, we had 12,000 healthcare workers trained on immunisation; 3,962 youths trained on advocacy for health insurance, drug abuse and immunisation. We also had four nation-wide campaigns to generate demand for COVID vaccines, childhood immunisation, HPV vaccines and rehabilitation for substance abuse.’’

The MD stated that the fund educated 21.96 million people on preventive measures through campaigns and local outreaches under its health literacy.

Ms Chinye-Nwoko, however, expressed dismay over the quality of healthcare in the country’s health institutions due to brain drain.

According to her, doctors, nurses, and pharmacists are leaving in large numbers.

She said, “That is depleting the supply-side issue; we are struggling with the quality of care that we may need. We are seeing a doctor to 10,000 patients’ ratio; That is outrageous. It means that the time a doctor will spend with a patient will be minimal and such patient may not get the quality care required.’’

She said the organisation would continue to support and collaborate with the government and other organisations to improve the country’s health system.

(NAN)