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HEALTH SECTOR REFORMS:
The Federal Government and the Federal Ministry
of Health are committed to undertake a comprehensive Health Sector Reform in
order to reposition the Public health sector to be more responsible and
responsive to the health needs of Nigerians and to ensure that Nigerians
live healthier, longer and more productive lives.
This need arose from the fact that in Nigeria,
many of our people especially women and children and in particular, the
poorest of the poor die from avoidable health problems such as Infectious
diseases, malnutrition, complications at Pregnancy and childbirth. All the
data show that health services in Nigeria have suffered from decades of
neglect, endangering every Nigerian’s health. The government have now
decided to confront these realities.
Health sector reform has been described as “A
broad purposeful and sustainable fundamental change in the function,
structure and performance of health systems (i.e. vision, policies,
legislation, institutional arrangement, organization, plans, programmes and
projects) in order to deliver efficient, quality, affordable, accessible,
effective and equitable health care services to the populace and ultimately
improve the health status of the people”.
The benefits of the Health sector reform to the
populace are as follows:
·
Better quality
services that are better organized and linked within a functional and
sustainable system.
·
Services will
be available, acceptable, and accessible from a wide range of public and
private health providers.
·
Managers will
have more evidence-based budgeting and will be able to manage their
systems more efficiently.
·
Providers will
have further training to be more responsive to users.
·
Both users and
providers will have their rights and responsibilities clearly delineated,
and will be able to act on these rights.
·
Users also
will be provided with much better and wider information about early
prevention, care and treatment for the many common diseases and illnesses
like malaria and diarrhea.
·
The basic
premise for users is to understand the health condition, act fast and seek
professional help when needed.
In pursuance to the above,
NANNM is working hard to identify the opportunities for partnerships in
health and development.
·
Despite the
loftiness of the health sector reforms, NANNM is asking the Federal Ministry
of Health to review employee policies for health insurance and coverage, and
to establish health promotion programmes for staff.
NANNM equally ask the
government to do more in the dissemination of information and creation of
awareness about the health sector reforms at the community and grassroots
level.
INTERNATIONAL NURSES’
WEEK 2006.
International Nurses week is a yearly
celebration within the nursing community the world over. The week
represents for the nursing profession, a unique opportunity to bring
themselves up-to-date on new trends, discuss essential issues and exchange
information on the levels of practice with a view to improving the quality
of health care.
On the occasion of this
year’s celebration Nurses worldwide drew attention to the issue of Safe
staffing and its implication on lives as captured in the theme: “Safe
staffing saves lives”.
NANNM celebrated the week at
Kaduna state which was attended by Nurses all over the country.
The week long programme
commenced on the 7th May 2006 with a thanksgiving service at Our
Lady of Apostles Church, Kaduna, while the closing …………………. took place at
the Sheik Gummi Central mosque, Kaduna on the 12th May 2006. On
Monday. Tuesday there was a rally/community outreach programme at Chechina
Market and Television park to raise the public’s awareness on public health
and disease conditions.
The workshop session
featured well-researched papers by renowned scholars and top government and
non-government Technocrats on 10th –11th May 2006.
The opening session on the 10th was graced by the Executive
Governor of the State Alhaji (Dr) Ahmed Mohammed Markarfi.
The climax of the programme
came in the evening of 12th may at the
Crystal garden hotel, Kaduna, where the
Dinner/Award night took place. At the venue, the Purit Nurse of the year
2006, was the central highlight of the night, an event night which was
keenly contested for from the five zones of the Association. The winner
emerged from Lagos State.
On the whole, the generality of the Nurses
appreciated the week long events and are already looking forward to the 2007
Nurses’ week.
INJECTION SAFETY WORKSHOP:-
NANNM in collaboration with John Snow
incorporated/making medical injections safer (MMIS) have a plan of action
based on training all cadres of health care personnel including the health
care waste managers on infection prevention and control with particular
attention to ensuring that necessary injection are given safely and the
waste generated safely disposed off.
John Snow is an lnternational organization that
is working in collaboration with the united state agency for international
development (USAID) and Federal Ministries of Health and environment on
infection prevention and control with emphasis on injection safety.
This train the trainers programme is on zonal
basis and kick started with the zone, of the Associa0tion on April 5-8th
2006 at Jalingo hotels, Taraba state. The over-all goal of the workshop is
to remove transmission of blood-borne diseases through infection prevention
and control in the context of injection safety.
To this end, the workshop was tailored to
achieve the following objectives:- To train the Nurses in:
-
Infection prevention and control
-
Health Care Waste management
-
Interpersonal communication
The participants were drawn from various
sections of Nursing viz the hospitals management board, Nursing directorate
in the Ministry of Health, Hospitals, Schools of Nursing and Midwifery,
Family Planning units, etc. of the various states within this zone with the
aim of cascading this training to the critical areas for the achievement of
the over-all goal.
This programme, being train the trainers
workshop adopted adult learning methods are featured paper discussions,
group work and practical sessions on the following areas:- Infection
prevention and control and injection safety.
-
Safe injection practices
-
Injection safety policies
-
Behaviour change for safe
injection practices
-
Prevention and Management of
Exposures
-
Health care waste management
Finally, the last day was spent at the Federal
Medical Centre, Jalingo for on-the-spot assessment of segregation of health
care waste and its management.
The nurses were very appreciative of this
programme and others in the remaining zones are still awaiting their turn.
PUBLIC SERVICES INTERNATIOAL (PSI)
Public Services international (PSI) is the
global union federation for public sector trade unions. PSI represents some
150 affiliated trade unions in 150 countries. Together, these unions
organize more than 20 million public sector workers, providing services in
central government, health and social care, municipal AND community services
and public utilities.
PSI campaigns for the interests of public sector
workers. Since 1907, when it was founded, PSI has coordinated public sector
struggles for workers” rights, social and economic justice, and efficient
and accessible public services.
PSI represents the public sector case at the
international Labour Organization and other United Nations bodies, the World
Bank and the regional development banks, the international Monetary Fund,
the World Trade organization, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development and many others.
PSI works closely with affiliate unions to
protect and extend workers’ rights, including the freedom to join a union,
to bargain collectively and other rights including gender equity and
diversity.
PSI campaigns to improve the quality of public
services. This involves working closely with international unions
organizations, national governments, consumer loobles, community
organizations and NGOs.
PSI solidarity and union development protects
and help affiliated unions by providing training and capacity-building
support on the ground, especially where trade unions are fighting for
recognition.
PSI wants..
·
Quality public services for all
·
Union rights for all public service workers
·
Gender equality & employment equity for all
·
Public alternatives to privatization of services
·
A strong and united trade union movement
·
Social justice in the workplace
·
Poverty reduction and debt relief.
PSI’s lnternational office is next to Geneva on
the French-Swiss border. PSI has regional bases in Barbados, Belgium,
Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, India, Japan,
Lebanon, Malaysia, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Togo, Ukraine
and the USA.
PSI affiliates meet at Congress every five years
to develop a Programme of action which forms the basis for all PSI works.
The congress also elects an Executive Board.
PSI has active women’s committees at global,
regional and sub-regional levels, and all decision-making structures are
based on gender parity.
PSI works closely together with ICFTU – the
lnternational Confederation of Free Trade Unions – and other union
federations, in particular El, the Education lnternational, and the European
Federation of Public Service Unions.
PSI works in six official languages: English,
French, German, Japanese, Spanish and Swedish |
