Achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is everyone’s business but for healthcare stakeholders, it is a priority.
A highlight of the maiden edition of the Health System Emerging Solutions Forum organized by DGI Consult on 14th November 2023 was the presentation of the UHC Excellence Award to five stakeholders in the health sector who have demonstrated unwavering commitment to the achievement of universal health coverage in Nigeria.
The UHC Excellence Award was introduced by DGI Consult in collaboration with the Nigeria UHC Forum, to recognise the meritorious service, landmark achievements, and remarkable contributions of health stakeholders to the advancement of UHC in Nigeria.
The UHC Excellence Award was presented to Professor Nasir Sambo, ex-Director General, National Health Insurance Authority; Dr. Ben Nkechika, ex-DG/CEO, Delta State Contributory Health Commission in Nigeria; Dr. Gaza Gwamna, Hon. Commissioner for Health, Nasarawa State; Dr. Muhammad Lawan Gana, Hon. Commissioner for Health, Yobe State; and Dr. Babagana Tijjani, Executive Secretary, Yobe State Contributory Health Management Agency.
Meet the Awardees
Prof. Nasir Sambo is the former Executive Secretary of the then National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and the first Director General/CEO of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) between July 2019 and October 2023.
During the four-and-a-half years of his tenure at the helm of the affairs of the Authority, Prof. Sambo introduced several reforms anchored on a three-point rebranding agenda: (1) value reorientation; (2) transparency and accountability; and (3) accelerating the drive towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
These innovative reforms transformed the organisation from a crisis-ridden one that necessitated the intervention of the Presidency to a performance driven, stakeholder-inclusive, and service-oriented organisation.
Some of the reforms are:
The signing of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Act into law which repealed the NHIS Act;
The development and launch of the NHIA Operational Guidelines;
The development and implementation of the NHIA 10-year Strategic plan;
The NHIA Medicine Supply Initiative (NSMI) which covers branding, cost-sharing and innovative financing;
The Health Insurance Under One Roof (HIUOR) stakeholder coordination framework;
The e-NHIA project which has the potential to catalyse the integration of the health insurance ecosystem.
Dr. Muhammad Lawan Gana is the Hon. Commissioner, Yobe State Ministry of Health and Human Services. Prior to his current position, Dr. Gana served as the Executive Secretary of the Yobe State Primary Healthcare Management Board where he designed and worked with other stakeholders to reform the primary healthcare system by seeing through the implementation of ‘one functional primary healthcare centres (PHC) per ward’ reform in the state. This resulted in the upgrade and rehabilitation of 138 PHC out 178 focal PHCs in the state.
He also established Special Care Baby Units in three senatorial zones of the state to improve the quality of neonatal care which significantly increased health care access to many poor and vulnerable citizens across the state.
Yobe State Health sector under Dr. Gana constructed one of the largest Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH) complex in the country with 376 bed capacity, which was in response to citizens needs for qualitative and accessible healthcare services.
s Hon. Commissioner, during his first tenure in office, the state recorded an increase in key MNCH indicators by a range of 60-70% which resulted in Yobe State received an award as Most Improved State in RI 2022.
Under Dr. Gana’s leadership, Yobe State Emergency Medical Ambulance Service Agency and Rural Ambulance System utilising customised tricycle ambulances was established.
He saw to the establishment of Yobe State Healthcare Inspection and Monitoring Agency in the state. In the last five years, the Hon. Commissioner provided enabling policy environment for private sector participation in human resource for health production by supporting the establishment of Almaarif College of Nursing and Health Science Potiskum.
Dr. Ben Nkechika, a Harvard trained health insurance expert, is the former Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the Delta State Contributory Health Commission (DSCHC). He was appointed to the position following the inauguration of the commission in 2016.
Dr. Nkechika commenced services under the scheme on the 1st of January 2017 by transitioning the previous administration’s free maternal and under-5 healthcare programmes into the Delta State Contributory Health Scheme; a strategic move that saw the enrolment of 300,000 Deltans in 2018.
The scheme, under the leadership of Dr. Nkechika, won an award as the state with the most people covered under its State Social Health Insurance Scheme with focus on the Poor and Vulnerable population in Nigeria under the World Bank/FG – Saving One Million Lives Programme in 2018.
The Delta State Contributory Health Commission still has the highest number of health insurance coverage among all the states in Nigeria with over one million subscribers.
Dr. Gaza Gwamna is the Hon. Commissioner for Health, Nasarawa state. Prior to his current position, Dr. Gwamna was appointed as the Pioneer Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer, Nasarawa State Health Insurance Agency (NASHIA) in 2019 and re-appointed as Executive Secretary for a second term of four years before his appointment as Commissioner for Health in July 2023.
As the first Executive Secretary of NASHIA, Dr. Gwamna laid a sound institutional foundation by implementing diverse health insurance system designs to reposition the operations of the agency. He charted a strategic course for NASHIA by developing a comprehensive five-year strategic plan to position the organisation as one of the fastest growing health insurance Agencies in Nigeria.
As a milestone achievement during his tenure, NASHIA successfully achieved a 5% coverage of the population of Nasarawa State, making it one of the few states in Nigeria to attain this feat. Demonstrating strong leadership, Dr. Gwamna, in collaboration with key stakeholders, advocated the allocation of 1% of the Local Government Areas revenue as equity fund to expand health insurance coverage for the poor and vulnerable residents of the state. Presently, all 13 LGAs in Nasarawa State contribute to this fund.
Dr. Babagana Tijjani is Executive Secretary of the Yobe State Contributory Health Management Agency. As the pioneer leader, he played a significant role in transforming the agency into a performance based, result oriented, and data driven organisation.
Dr. Tijjani provided a strategic direction for the agency, institutionalised accountability, and gradually continued to expand population coverage in Yobe State. Under his leadership, YSCHMA became the fastest growing and first among the leading Contributory Healthcare Agency in the North with over 300,000 enrollees.
Watch a video of the award presentation ceremony below:
