Yenagoa, 19 April, 2021 - The maiden Bayelsa Health Summit with the theme, Achieving Improved Health Systems Performance through Strategic Planning and Stakeholder Engagement”, opens today in the capital city Yenagoa. 

The theme was informed by the background of the Bayelsa health sector which is described as under-performing and characterised by poor health indices. For instance, only about 6.5% of the population have health insurance cover and majority access health through out of pocket expenditure. About four out of every 10 Bayelsa indigenes live within 2KM of healthcare facility and majority do not access these facilities due to difficult terrain, poverty, and lack confidence in quality-of-service delivery. 

Speaking at the epoch-making event, Nigeria’s former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who incidentally enacted the National Health Act of 2014 says, “The Summit is the basis for planning the future of the Bayelsa’s health agenda and is key to quality healthcare delivery. One key strategy is leveraging the opportunities in the private sector through public-private-partnerships”

The former President commended the Governor for coming up with a robust plan to reposition the health sector in Bayelsa towards proving requisite healthcare delivery.
In his speech at the summit, the State Governor, His Excellency Senator Douye Diri said, “Some statistics from the 2018 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) have been cited, indicating that  ‘only about half of the pregnant women in Bayelsa received antenatal care from a trained provider. Also, that ‘about half of the children were not fully immunised,’ while the prevalence rate of human immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV) remains high.” 

He noted that the records are indeed disappointing, particularly in the light of investments by the State Government in the health subsector during the period covered. 

“A summit such as this, as I understand it, is for answers to the type of poser above. The organisers of this event have signalled that they expect a deepening of understanding of the health system challenges... and to foster collaboration as well as deepen international development support for government-initiated and directed programmes”, Governor Diye said.

The WHO Representative to Nigeria, Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo in his remarks said, “The theme of this summit clearly spells out the goal of this august assembly and be rest assured that in WHO, you have a partner that is willing to collaborate with your Government to accomplish this noble task.” 

Nigeria’s Minister of Health, the Director General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, and the Chairman of the Bayelsa State Council of Traditional Rulers also presented separate goodwill messages at the event.

The 3-Day summit (19-21 March 2021) will include plenary sessions and breakout scientific sessions, focused at achieving the goal and objectives of the summit. Expert panellists, resource persons, key health stakeholders, opinion leaders, and other stakeholders in the health system will share experiences and advance innovative, locally applicable, and cost-effective strategies and interventions to improve the performance of the Bayelsa State Health System. 

Key deliverables from the summit in addition to strengthening the existing Primary Healthcare Board and Health Insurance Agency include,  (i) State Health Act within 3 months, (ii) State Centre for Disease Control in 16 months, and (ii) State Emergency Management Commission.
The success of the summit will be judged by what the State does with the outcome of the deliberations, knowledge, and expertise of the assembly of renowned scholars who will be contributing their experiences during the sessions. 

Technical Contacts:

Dr Boateng Koffi; Email: boatengko [at] who.int (boatengko[at]who[dot]int); Tel: +234 706 449 1772

Dr Egbe, Edmund Richard; Email:egbee [at] who.int (egbee[at]who[dot]int); Tel: +234 803 551 4708