Stakeholders Advocate Improved Access To PHCS For Children With Disabilities

Stakeholders in the health sector have advocated improved access to primary healthcare services for children with disabilities and better funding for primary healthcare systems across the country.

This was the main topic of discussion at a one-day stakeholders’ meeting organized by The Sedoo Initiative For Children with Special Needs – SECHILD in Abuja.

The Founder/President of the foundation, Mrs Kawan Aondofa-Anjira, said the meeting was organized to strengthen collaboration between CSOs and the government for improved health services for children with disabilities in rural communities and to engage critical stakeholders in capacity building to protect the right of access to adequate and appropriate healthcare services for children with disabilities.

“It is pertinent to note that improving access to quality health services is essential for sustained economic and social development and contributes to a better quality of life.”

Anjira explained that the right to healthcare is included in the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was the first human rights treaty that contained a specific reference to disability.

” Nigerian government achieved a significant feat in protecting children’s rights through the domestication of the Child Rights Act (CRA) 2003, which stipulates that every child is entitled to the best attainable state of physical, mental, and spiritual health.

“The treaty enjoined the government to ensure the provision of necessary medical assistance and healthcare services for children. Although the National Health Act 2014 provides that children with disabilities are entitled to free medical care, parents of these children still go through horrendous experiences accessing hospitals and health management organizations to ensure the application of this law. One of the greatest challenges to healthcare for children with disabilities is the burden of the National Health Insurance.”

She stressed that health insurance should be made mandatory for all children with disabilities as a right, thereby minimizing the expenses of already overburdened parents burdened with enormous costs for the care of disabled children.

“Recently, the United Nations Declaration on Sustainable Development Goal 3 emphasizes universal health coverage, access to quality health, and equity in healthcare as keys to achieving the overall health goal for sustainable development.
The Abuja Declaration further mandates the government to allocate at least 15% of the annual budget to improve the health sector.'”

In her recommendations, she urged all health and development actors to strengthen primary healthcare policy, create disability desks in all PHCs across the country, equip PHCs for timely early detection, intervention, and treatment for children with disabilities, and address existing conditions to make health services disability-inclusive, sufficient, effective, and affordable.

Some of the stakeholders at the event included the Hon. Minister of the Federal Ministry of Health, representatives of ministries, departments, and agencies, The Leprosy Mission Nigeria, civil society organizations (CSOs), and journalists.

Edited By Shakirat Alabi