By Providence Ayanfeoluwa
Experts in the health sector have asserted that making Nigerians enjoy a better quality of life and live longer is achievable and should be one cardinal objective of all governments as well as those involved in the provision of health services.
The Vice Chancellor of the Lagos State University of Science and Technology, LASUSTECH, Prof. Olumuyiwa Odusanya, said recent data from the Lancet Commission showed that between 1998 and 2019, life expectancy in Nigeria increased by 18 per cent to 64.3 years with a reduction in mortality for all ages and increased health expenditure per person (being the third highest in West Africa), Nigeria ranked seventh for health life expectancy in the West African region.
In his lecture titled: “Towards Better and Longer Lives for all Nigerians: “Challenges and Solutions” at the 41st Convocation Ceremony of the NPMCN, along Lagos-Badagry Expressway Ijanikin, Odusanya said in the 19th century, life expectancy was about the same for most countries, which has rapidly increased globally but African countries still lag behind other regions.
His words: “This is largely due in part to improvements in health care, science nutrition education, water supply and cleaner environments. “Nigerians face multiple challenges to longevity right from the womb to early childhood illness, unfavourable environments, through adolescent years to adult years with non-communicable diseases and neglect for those that make it to old age.
“I hope that there will be more robust discussions in our college. We must act at two levels firstly, as a distinct entity and collaboratively with many other groups to seek improvements in the socio-economic conditions of Nigeria, and the environment through advocacy, lobbying publications and acting as a pressure group.
“Secondly within the health system, we must act strategically and specifically to improve the efficiency of the Nigerian health system and to equip our trainees with requisite skills to provide the highest quality of care in tandem with our college anthem making Nigerians healthy”, he said.
Earlier, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammed Ali Pate, said a four-point agenda has been unveiled to strengthen the nation’s health system by ensuring a healthy Nigeria and providing effective health and human services. Pate who was represented by a Professor of Medicine, at University College Hospital, Ibadan, Prof. Jesse Otegbayo, said that the blueprint would chart a way forward to achieving a healthy population that will help harness the potential of the young and aged population.
Also speaking in his address, College President, Dr. Akin Osibogun, said that the phenomenon of brain drain has further compounded the problem of an inadequate number of skilled medical and dental professionals. Osibogun said: “This remains and continues to be a huge threat to the accomplishment of our mandate of producing the needed specialist medical/dental manpower for the country.” (Vanguard)
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