17th September, 2019
The Nigeria Implementation Science Alliance (NISA), has advised the Federal Government to look beyond formulating policies and work towards implementing them to improve healthcare service delivery in the country.
Prof. Echezona Ezeanolue, Chairman of NISA, advised at the 2019 5th NISA Conference themed “Achieving Impact through Implementation Research” on Tuesday in Abuja, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
NISA is a collaborative network of programme implementing partners in Nigeria committed to identifying, understanding, measuring and sharing research work is done in Nigeria, as well as mentoring.
Ezeanolue, who is also the Vice President, Healthy Sunrise Foundation, said that implementation involved executing basic policy decisions. He noted that the implementation of policies would stipulate the objectives to be pursued and achieved.
Ezeanolue noted that the healthcare policies would provide direction for the government to effectively realise its healthcare delivery activities in the country.
He said that if the government was able to implement all existing policies on healthcare delivery in Nigeria, it would have addressed 80 percent of the problems in healthcare delivery.
Speaking about the conference, the NISA Chairman said that it was a conference of policymakers, implementing partners, health organisations and government agencies to share research and bridge the gap between research and practice.
“The conference’s overall goal is health for all Nigerians, quality policy and health decisions based on evidence from researches. It is an opportunity for researchers to share research work done, to rub minds, to mentor and be mentored, to discuss public health issues and possible solutions to them,” he said.
Also speaking to newsmen, the Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria (IHVN), Dr. Patrick Dakum, said that the conference would provide a forum for researchers, implementers and policymakers to review challenges and opportunities for health services in the country.
Dakum said that the conference was also a forum for the dissemination of research data, adding that such data would make research and implementation easier and more effective in the country.
He said that the conference would advance training and share knowledge on the implementation of policies among health professionals.