Monday, October 27, 2025 - The Ogun State Government, in collaboration with the Clinton Health Access Initiative, has inaugurated the Health Systems Sustainability Task Force to strengthen resilience, ensure coordinated service delivery, and promote government ownership of critical health functions.
Speaking during the inauguration in Abeokuta, according to a
statement on Sunday, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, who chairs the
task force, said the move was necessitated by the disruptions caused by the
suspension of United States government global health funding earlier in the
year.
She said the policy was capable of making Nigeria’s health
system vulnerable, thus affecting essential services such as HIV, tuberculosis,
reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health, and malaria interventions.
The commissioner, represented by the Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Health, Dr Kayode Oladehinde, said “the task force would coordinate
government and partner response efforts, drive accountability, develop
sustainable mechanisms to address systemic bottlenecks in service delivery,
workforce, health financing, commodities and data management.”
She noted that the multi-stakeholder platform would provide
decision support to the governor and executive council.
“The task force will advocate for high-level political
commitment, conduct a situational analysis of the health sector, and establish
technical subcommittees on service delivery, human resources for health, health
financing, supply chain, health data systems, and health security.”
The commissioner stressed that the task force would report
periodically to the governor and engage with the Federal Ministry of Health to
align state actions with national priorities.
“he task before us is enormous, but I am glad that this
initiative reflects the state government’s vision to achieve sustainable health
for all Ogun residents through stronger coordination, adequate financing, and
institutional accountability across all levels of the health system,” she
added.
The State Coordinator of the National Primary Health Care
Development Agency, Mr Solape Folarin, described the initiative as inevitable
for sustaining the gains of the various health programmes evident in the state.
Folarin called for the inclusion of all stakeholders in the
health sector to achieve the outlined objectives.
The Executive Director of the Youth Future Savers
Initiative, Mr Tayo Akinpelu, who spoke on behalf of Civil Society
Organisations in the state, assured of meaningful contributions towards
ensuring that the task force delivered effectively on the assignment.
Recall that early in 2025, the US government temporarily
suspended funding for some health programmes in Nigeria via a 90-day freeze on
foreign aid.
A waiver for life-saving medicines and medical services,
however, allowed for the continuation of essential care, particularly for
HIV/AIDS treatment.
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