The Anglican Bishops of the Church of Nigeria have committed to raising N1 billion by the end of September to strengthen healthcare interventions and support the proposed Church of Nigeria Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO).
Primate of the Church, Most Reverend Henry Ndukuba, disclosed this in Abuja at the opening of the Third Church of Nigeria Health Summit.
Ndukuba said the commitment was aimed at moving the church’s healthcare mission from plans to concrete action and expanding access to affordable and quality medical services, particularly for vulnerable Nigerians.
He also announced the approval of the Rafa Medical Centre in the Federal Capital Territory to commence full operations, describing it as another milestone in the church’s healthcare programme.
The Primate said the third health summit would focus on implementing the Church of Nigeria Health Action Plan and developing sustainable approaches to healthcare delivery across its dioceses.
He identified economic hardship, inflation, migration of health professionals, inadequate infrastructure and rising healthcare costs as major challenges facing Nigeria’s health sector.
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Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Muyi Aina, described the Anglican Church as a strategic partner in efforts to expand healthcare access.
Aina said the church’s more than 170 dioceses and over 21 million members provide a strong grassroots platform for promoting healthcare and healthy practices.
He disclosed that the government had refurbished 4,161 primary healthcare centres, while more than 23,000 health workers had been recruited and 80,000 frontline workers retrained.
According to him, over 23 million Nigerians are currently covered by health insurance, while the government has disbursed N70.5 billion to primary healthcare facilities since 2023.
Aina urged the Anglican Church to leverage its extensive network to support vaccination, maternal healthcare, health education and preventive medicine.
He said stronger collaboration between government and faith-based organisations would accelerate Nigeria’s progress towards universal health coverage.
