The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to promote a rights-based approach to healthcare for millions of disadvantaged Nigerians to control and combat the Ebola disease.
In a statement signed by SERAP’s Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, on Sunday, the organisation said though the government’s reaction to the Ebola challenge so far had contributed to curtailing the spread of the disease, the inadequacy of a reactive approach to the problem is illustrated by the low survival rates of victims here in the country when compared to those in countries with developed and functioning healthcare systems.
“The unfortunate reality is that the full enjoyment of the right to health still remains a distant goal for millions of Nigerians especially those who continue to live in poverty as a result of years of mismanagement and high level official corruption,” Mumuni said.
“This problem is further exacerbated by the absence of functioning public health and health-care facilities, grossly insufficient resources and official corruption. The result is that payment for basic healthcare remains beyond the reach of majority of Nigerians.”
He pointed out that the Ebola outbreak provides an opportunity for the government to formulate a coherent health policy that is based on human rights principles, saying the president needs to urgently provide the leadership to make this happen.
“As a starting point, the president should now publicly support the inclusion of a legally enforceable right to healthcare in the constitution,” he continued.
“A long term and preventive approach that conceives health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity is urgently needed.
“Any such policy must adopt a holistic approach to the right to health by for example promoting the effective enjoyment of associated rights such as the rights to food, housing, work, education, human dignity, life, non-discrimination, and equality.”
SERAP observed that one of the things the government can immediately do to prevent the spread of Ebola is to commit adequate resources to provide and promote an environment across the country where people can lead a healthy life, in particular by ensuring access to safe and potable water and adequate sanitation, safe and healthy working conditions, and a healthy environment.
“The government must ensure the participation of the population in all health-related decision-making across the country. Investments should not disproportionately favour expensive curative health services which are often accessible only to a small, privileged fraction of the population, rather than primary and preventive health care benefiting a far larger part of the population,” Mumuni”s statement continued.
