Nigeria to end maternal, newborn, child and adolescent deaths by accessing $40m global financing facility
The Nigerian government has announced it is rolling out a strategy that would enable it to access the $40 million Global Financing Facility (GFF) that would enable Nigeria to end maternal, Newborn, child and Adolescent deaths, by the year 2030.
Supported by the World Bank, the Global Financing Facility was launched at the Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa in July 2015 as part of a global conversation about how to finance the SDGs, which requires a shift from thinking about billions of dollars to recognizing that the world needs trillions to achieve the ambitious targets agreed upon.
“This shift is only possible through new approaches to financing that recognize that countries themselves are the engines of progress and that the role of external assistance is to support countries both to get more results from the existing resources and to increase the total volume of financing,” GFF stated.
The Nigerian government described GFF as an innovative financing strategy that is critical to achieving key results for every woman and every child through smart, scaled and sustainable domestic financing of priority investments in reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent (RMNCAH) healthcare.
The Director, Department of Family Health and Co-Chair, GFF country platform, Dr. Adebimpe Adebiyi, said it was paramount for Nigeria to leverage innovative and strategic measures in addressing the peculiar challenges towards “ensuring the wellbeing of all” particularly the poor and the vulnerable populace.
In view of this, Dr. Adebiyi explained that the GFF country platform was set up to drive the process with its first assignment being to develop a credible RMNCAH + Nutrition Investment case which is a pre-requisite for accessing the grant/ facility. The fund would support the scaling – up of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) Niger, Abia and Ondo States, to be used as pilot states.
She further informed that the GFF process was expected to yield cumulative effects and eventual economic growth and prevent 24-38 million deaths of women, adolescents and children.
Nigeria is one of the 2nd wave countries out of 26 to benefit from the GFF, a grant of $40m, 50% of this has been ear marked for the Health sector response in the North East.
The Lead Health Specialist and GFF focal Person for Nigeria GFF secretariat/World Bank, Mr. Luc Laviolette, said GFF is a country driven process which entails prioritizing interventions, thus it was essential to have an investment case before grants could be released.
He therefore urged well-meaning Nigerians to assist the States and local government authorities in making the project a success.
According to Nigeria’s page on GFF’s website, the country is just at the onset of the fund.