The federal government has identified insecurity and brain drain as key challenges affecting the availability of health workers and services at the community level.

The Federal Government and stakeholders in Nigeria’s health sector called for stronger collaboration to improve the status of community health workers and access to primary healthcare services across the country.

The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare disclosed this in Abuja at the National Consultation on Advancing Nigeria’s Community Health Workforce Agenda, convened by CARE International in Nigeria and other development partners.

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The Director and Head of Health Planning, Research and Statistics at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Dr John Ovuoraye, said the government was committed to strengthening the workforce required to provide healthcare services to Nigerians.

He also said attention should shift from health workers in tertiary and secondary facilities to those providing services in communities, primary healthcare centres and health posts.

Ovuoraye said, “Our human workforce in the country is reducing; the trained specialists are leaving the country. Insecurity is also a challenge to community-level healthcare delivery because some health posts have been shut down because of insecurity.

“We need all actors that are working in the space of health to come together to make sure things work and ensure we have a workforce that will provide the kind of services that Nigerians truly need”.

Ovuoraye noted that improving the security situation was necessary to enable health posts to continue operating in the communities where they were needed.

He also hinted that the government was increasing the number of functional primary healthcare facilities, saying the number had risen from more than 8,000 to over 16,000.

The Country Director of CARE International in Nigeria, Dr Hussaini Abdu, decried the welfare status of community workers.

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He said community health workers, who have for decades reached mothers, children, and families in communities, have limited recognition, inconsistent remuneration, fragmented supervision, and uncertain career pathways.

He said the community health workforce agenda remained under-financed, under-institutionalised, and insufficiently harmonised across states and programmes.

Abdu called for collective ownership of the agenda, saying the challenges could not be addressed by government, donors, implementing partners or communities acting alone.

“The challenges facing our community health workforce cannot be solved by government alone, donors alone, implementing partners alone, or communities alone,” he said.

The Health Sector Lead at CARE International in Nigeria, Dr Amina Abdullahi, said community health workers were often the first point of contact between community members and the health system, particularly for women and girls.

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