In furtherance of the objective of putting Universal Health Coverage (UHC) on the political front burner ahead of the forthcoming 2023 general elections, the UHC 2023 Forum in collaboration with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum Secretariat and Chatham House UK organized a workshop to commence the process of articulating a citizen-led health manifesto on 31st March, 2022. The workshop brought together diverse stakeholders including representatives of two leading political parties in Nigeria (APC and PDP), donors, development partners, the civil society, and media organizations.
Through presentations, group work and plenary discussions, participants articulated a policy-resetting agenda to be adopted by political actors at the national and sub-national levels. The health agenda is composed of articulated targets for key health result areas, i.e., UHC progress, primary health care, demographic dividend, higher level of care, health security and nutrition. The strategic policy interventions that should be prioritized by the political class towards achieving the health goals were also articulated. These strategic interventions were developed along areas such as health policy and resource optimization, sustainable financing and strategic investment, raising the accountability bar for health system performance, citizens engagement, capacity strengthening for health institutions at all levels, and multisectoral collaboration.
The session stimulated commitments from the representatives of the two leading political parties towards ensuring UHC is integrated into the parties’ manifestos and adopted by all candidates. The citizen-led health agenda will be used in engaging the leadership of the leading political parties and their flagbearers ahead of the 2023 general elections to guide their health manifesto development.
“Development Governance International (DGI) Consult is a founding member of the UHC 2023 Forum which is a coalition of a wide array of stakeholders working towards raising the political prioritization of health in Nigeria ahead of the 2023 general elections”.
