Nigeria Health Watch
The room was almost full at 8 a.m., as advocates, leaders of civil society organisations and senior government officials gathered in Abuja to learn from each other how to increase the effectiveness of their advocacy efforts. Nigeria Health Watch, the Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria and ONE Campaign convened the event as part of a […]
We can see from other sectors in Nigeria, how active citizenship is driving change. From the elections, to the increased responsiveness of government in various sectors, Nigerians are finding their voices and using it. Most sectors are recognising this, even the Nigerian Police Force has recently set up a Complaint Response Unit. So, why is […]
It’s Autism Awareness Month this April and several groups in Nigeria are advocating for greater awareness and engagement in providing care for this special segment of our population. In this week’s piece, we highlight the challenges surrounding autism care in Nigeria, focusing on one special needs group in Abuja where parents and caregivers meet, to […]
Once every year, the Ministers of Health, leaders of all the health parastatals, and the commissioners of health and their teams gather to agree and harmonise health policy for the Federal Republic. It is the highest policy making body in the health sector for the country. So between the 7th and 11th of March 2016, […]
Editor’s Note: Over the years we have written vigorously on the things that do not work in the Nigerian health sector. This week we are starting a new series of highlighting projects and programmes that do work, showing that despite the chaos, there are pockets of excellence in sometimes unusual places. In the first story […]
If you look hard, you will find that at the heart of the growth in the Nigerian economy is the drive, innovation and resilience of young Nigerians. From the new generation banks to the telecommunication firms, from new media to Nollywood, young people are re-defining business in Nigeria. Sadly, the health sector has predominantly excluded […]
We often sit in the big cities and talk and write about health issues. We attend conferences and seminars, dissemination events and policy dialogues. We debate about health policy reform and the national health agenda, we analyse the budget and ask policy makers hard questions. Sometimes, we sit back and wonder how much they care. […]
Editor: The National Summit on reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH) will take place in Abuja on February 16-18. The inaugural Summit will address accountability in healthcare delivery for women, newborns, and other vulnerable groups. By now it is no secret that Nigeria’s maternal and child health indicators, while improving, are still at […]
Strange deaths in a community in Niger State in 2015 left the community confused, this was followed by a period of uncertainty and anxiety, and they reached out to the only rational explanation they could imagine – the supernatural. By the time the public health authorities were informed and a diagnosis of Lassa Fever was […]
On February 26, 2016, Nigeria Health Watch will partner with Asktoks.com at a Masterclass during this year’s Social Media Week Lagos, to provoke rigorous discussion on the challenges in mental health attitudes and services in Nigeria. Over 64 million Nigerians suffer from some form of mental illness. In a world increasingly infiltrated with increased levels of negative stress, […]
When I was growing up, asking questions about anything sex related was not exactly encouraged. Those conversations were left whispered amongst giggling seniors at boarding school dormitories, where the more ‘aware’ girls weaved tales for the wide-eyed naive ones. Our parents did not even want to hear the word. Given that reality, the thought of asking […]
Editor: On the 19th of December 2015, we at Nigeria Health Watch joined the ONE Campaign and 24 other Non-Governmental Organisations in writing a letter to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on health and the associated budget currently going through the legislature. The letter was delivered to the Presidency, the leadership of the Senate […]
On December 9th 2015, we gathered in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, for the first Public Service Lecture of the Nigerian Primary Health Care Development Agency. Despite starting three hours behind schedule, we waited. There were two primary reasons for this patience: firstly Professor Eyitayo Lambo belongs to an extremely small group of leaders in the […]