The Acting Executive Secretary of the Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme (RIVCHPP), Dr. Vetty Agala, has lamented the rising cases of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in the country, saying the development puts serious strains on Nigeria’s healthcare system.
She stated this as one of the panelists at the just-concluded National Conference on SSB Tax and Healthcare Financing in Abuja, insisting that the surge in NCDs and the immense strain it is having on Nigeria’s healthcare system and the economy must not be downplayed.
Participants at the conference, with the theme: Health Tax as Recipe for Improved Healthcare Financing, critically examined the issues of NCDs prevention and sustainable healthcare financing to effectively address the rising burden of NCDs in the face of limited resources available to Nigerians.
Agala, who spoke on The Economic Costs of NCDs versus Dwindling Healthcare Resources, maintained that the poor and vulnerable are the ones who suffer most from the effects of non-communicable diseases, saying that over 70 percent of Nigerian population are in the informal sector and reside in the rural areas and could hardly afford quality healthcare.
She restated that donor fatigue was already eating deep into the provision of healthcare for the people, adding that there is the need for creating more health awareness, which will make people change their behaviour and stay healthy.
The RIVCHPP Executive Secretary suggested that there is the need to look at domestic resources mobilisation since most of the health donor support are dwindling, insisting: “The taxation of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) and allocating resources for health insurance coverage for the poor or in scales of public health importance should be the proper way to go.”
