CSJ Holds Inception, Strategy Meeting For USAID-SCALE Right To Health Project

The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) Nigeria with the support of the Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement programme of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID-SCALE) has held an inception and strategy meeting on the implementation of the project titled “Improving the Realisation of the Right to Health in Nigeria”.

The three-day programme saw participants from the committees on health of the Senate and House of Representatives of the National Assembly, the Federal Ministry of Health, the Nigerian Medical Association and the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria.

Others include the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), the National Hospital Abuja, Health Management Organisations and a host of CSO and media partners.

The project will be implemented in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and 6 focal states of Sokoto, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Imo, Ekiti and Rivers. The project’s goal is to contribute to improvements in the realization of the right to health in Nigeria through enhancing respect for extant laws and policies, reforming laws and policies as well as mainstreaming transparency and accountability in public health sector expenditure.

The programme will be implemented through four critical objectives for action vis: (a) Improve legal and governance frameworks of the health sector through legislative and implementation advocacy; (b) Enhance stakeholder participation to improve transparency and accountability in health budgeting; and (c) Increase awareness and sensitisation of rights and duties on the right to health and (d) Build the capacity of cluster members and critical civil society stakeholders to effectively intervene for the improvement of the right to health.

Right to Health is the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Right to health extends to ensuring clean water, sanitation, food, nutrition and through a comprehensive system of healthcare.

The right to health is accorded recognition by several international treaties to most of which Nigeria is a party. The most important of these treaties are the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination (CERD), the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Nigeria is also a party to two health-related civil and political rights treaties, namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Regionally, the Right to Health is guaranteed under the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights. Nationally, it is guaranteed under Chapter 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the National Health Insurance Scheme Act (1999) and the National Health Act, 2014.