Presidency Reveals President Tinubu’s Plan For Health Sector

President Bola Tinubu‘s Senior Special Adviser on Health, Salma Anas-Ibrahim on Monday claimed that the renewed hope health agenda of his principal is committed to covering over 50 million Nigerians.

According to Anas-Ibrahim, the most vulnerable, including the elderly people are not left out within the next four years.

Anas-Ibrahim disclosed this in her keynote address on Monday at the National Healthy Ageing Summit in Abuja.

She expressed optimism that it is doable, as younger generations can tap the potential and harness the contributions of all to achieve national development and socio-economic growth of their country.

The Special Adviser to the President said, “The renewed hope health agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is committed to cover over 50 million Nigerians and most of them vulnerable, including the elderly people within the next four years by the grace of God.

“As I’m speaking to you today as a special adviser to the president, the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I want to reiterate to you that this is a critical stage in our lifetime in Nigeria, as we are transitioning to a new government of renewed hope and a renewed hope for health.

“So I would like to say that the President is committed to ensuring that we meet and realize our universal health care coverage, which also involves the health of the elderly people. No one will be left behind. Not an elderly person or any other person will be left behind.

“The elderly need both social and psychological needs in addition to medical needs, as we also need to protect them from long-term care, provide support and protection from abuse and discrimination.

“These are things that are happening silently in our communities, but you know, as I said, elderly people, their voices continue to get low so they don’t complain.

“But within that system, there are abuses. Just a few weeks ago, I had a lot of interaction with Nigerians in the diaspora, and one of the keys they brought out was abuses of the elderly.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in Nigeria, Dr Walter Mulombo while speaking at the event said Globally, there were 703 million persons aged 65 or over in 2019 adding that over the next three decades, the number of older persons worldwide is projected to more than double, reaching more than 1.5 billion persons in 2050.

He said, apart from Northern Africa and Asia, the second fastest increase is projected for sub-Saharan Africa, where the population aged 65 or over could grow from 32 million in 2019 to 101 million in 2050.

He noted that despite spare data on older persons, Nigeria is not spared from these alarming figures with about 14.8 million aged 60 years and above.

He, therefore, called upon the Government of Nigeria to continue to exercise leadership and increase investment in human capital development to further strengthen the partnership and prioritize the Decade of Healthy Ageing by focusing on improved engagement with older people.

Mulombo said, “Better understanding of older people’s needs; developing and strengthening health and long-term care, specifically in communities and improved multisectoral action in aligning with the PHC system approach as we take the opportunity of the recent PHC summit and its recommendations.

“Advocate for continued capacity-building; evidence-based guidance; support to connect, convene and exchange knowledge with relevant stakeholders; and data and innovation at all levels to inform decision making and better coordination and serve as a tool to provide feedback to health service delivery managers and communities resulting in improvements in service provision for the older persons in an integrated approach.”