Nigeria’s health stakeholders have called for sustained efforts to preserve and strengthen gains recorded from COVID-19 interventions across the country.
The call was made in Abuja at a COVID-19 Grant Dissemination Meeting themed “Managing Partners’ Response, Celebrating Lessons and Shaping the Future”, organised by the Global Fund in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and other stakeholders.
Represented by the Director-General of NACA, Dr. Temitope Ilori, the Ministry said the COVID-19 Resource Mobilisation programme significantly improved Nigeria’s health system capacity.
“It was a significant investment aimed at strengthening our surveillance systems, laboratories, oxygen infrastructure and community-based healthcare services”, she said, noting that the gains have also boosted preparedness for future outbreaks such as Ebola.
Ilori stressed that sustaining the progress would depend on integration into routine health services. “The true value of these investments will be measured by how effectively they are integrated into our routine systems and maintained over time”, she added.
The Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism also urged a shift from implementation to sustainability, highlighting infrastructure gains including oxygen systems, laboratory upgrades, and warehouse rehabilitation nationwide.
“Our major concern now is how these investments will be sustained moving forward,” the CCM said, while commending partners for successful implementation of the programme.
Stakeholders agreed that continued collaboration between government and development partners remains essential to strengthening Nigeria’s health security system.
