WHY IS HEALTH TOO 'SMALL A THING' FOR THEIR PLANS AND MANIFESTOS?

A nation full of unhealthy citizens, is unhealthy in itself.

Everywhere you go in Nigeria at the moment, the only thing you hear is "CHANGE", "POSITIVE CHANGE". The February 2015 election draws so near, every political party with their aspiring candidates has tuned to the lyrics of this 'change' music, "all I want to bring is change". . .

This has become a tradition, Nigerians are used to it. But is the coming tenure going to be any better than the ones Nigeria has seen over the decades?
After careful listening, studying and reviewing of the manifestos and 'proposed' visions of the aspiring presidential candidates for Nigeria, it so saddens me that there's not even an iota of plan for the HEALTH of the Nigerian citizens.

LET'S ANALYZE THIS TOGETHER

• Despite Nigeria being the 24th largest economy in the world, per capita income is low; Nigerians continue to struggle with poverty, inequality and electricity shortages.

The Nigeria health sector is beset with so many problems; doctors are on strike, scores of lives have been lost due to this breakdown. An average Nigerian using government hospitals is now forced to seek expensive treatment at private ones, adding to the increasing poverty status of the country, yet no one is talking about this.

• For decades now, the Nigeria health care system remains inefficient, stagnant and deteriorating by the day. I'm still yet to find a plan on someone's agenda to fix this problem.

• Nigeria remains the only African country still battling with polio. Nigeria is ranked 4th among the 22 worst affected countries in the world and the first in Africa. As such, about 460,000 new TB cases occur yearly in Nigeria, yet we're talking about 'change'.

• The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which is meant to see that every Nigerian citizen has access to free health care, has failed in a huge way, and is even majorly supported by NGOs and Donor/Volunteering organizations, not the government.

• Pharmaceutical drugs  get destroyed in stored places. Why? Something has gone wrong - against the 'store in cool and dry place' warning on their labels. These drugs have been heated up, due to poor power supply which is meant to enable storage in a good environment with an ideal temperature. These drugs - whose chemical structures have been altered - are sold to 'unknowing' citizens. They buy and use; the end result is worse than the beginning. This has resulted in more deaths (especially in children), than the illness itself.

• Nigeria's public health care system lacks enough skilled man power as a result of the "brain drain" syndrome. Nigerian medical practitioners are leaving in search for greener pastures (a more enabling environment).

• Infant mortality rates have been increasing from 85 per 1000 live births in 1982, to 87 in 1990, 93 in 1991, 100 in 2003, according to the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, 2003. In 2007, the Federal Ministry of Health reported 110 deaths per 1000 live births.

• Nigeria's under-five mortality rate is 197 deaths per 1000 live births, and HIV, malaria and diarrheal disease account for about a quarter of the deaths among adults (and malaria in children). Now, new reported cases of flu in some regions have added to the number.

We can go on and on non-stop on this issue, but here's something:

If 'anyone' leader wants true change for his nation, he starts by putting the nation's citizens - his followers - on their feet first. A leader of sick people is a sick person himself, and his nations is 'clinically' dead.

Health is wealth, they say. If a 'manifesto' or 'vision' has all the money to spread around, but not to health reforms, then it becomes a situation where we all have to queue or lie in hospital beds, instead of being at our work places or educational environments. Oh! Sorry, which hospitals?!

You talk of security, economy, etc, if a good percentage of the Nigerian Military/Navy/Air-force/

Police, are down with an epidemic, then who stands to raise the guns?

It's time we started talking about 'real change' instead of 'recycled change' - same things, same processes, but different administrators. Change is only going to come when Nigeria itself is healthy.

Let's be health mindful.

Resource:
Equilibri