During this year’s State Council on Health, Universal Health Coverage: Working towards a sustainable health agenda hosted by the Lagos State Ministry of Health, HFG Nigeria was honored for its contribution to health financing reforms and support towards the implementation of the Lagos State Health Scheme (LSHS). In addition, the Lagos State Program Coordinator, Udeme Harriet Edumoh also received an individual Award of Excellence.

The Honorable Commissioner of Health, Lagos, Dr. Jide Idris during the Lagos state council on health meeting.

Since January 2015, USAID’s HFG Project has been working with Lagos State to implement the sustainable financing initiatives through the provision of technical support and advocacy on domestic resource mobilization for health and HIV/AIDS.  HFG Nigeria’s support extends to strengthening the core implementation working group and technical working group (TWG) on the implementation of the Lagos State Health Scheme (LSHS), in addition to building local capacity in core health financing diagnostics, such as fiscal space analysis, resource tracking, and public financial management analysis.

Last year, HFG produced a governance report on the LSHS and recommended strong multi-sectoral collaboration between the State-level MOH and the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, the State Treasury Office and the Ministry of Finance.  As a result, a multi-sectoral steering committee was established which has been instrumental in supporting the operationalization of the Lagos State Health Scheme fund.

All these efforts led by HFG have resulted in a paradigm shift, giving way to good governance and oversight by the legislators, strong multi-sectoral collaboration between the State Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, the State Treasury office and the Ministry of Finance. As a result, they have forged an understanding of all of the financial resources needed to implement the Lagos State Health Scheme and for the health sector as a whole.