By Muktar Tahir – To upturn the current crisis rocking the Nigerian healthcare sector, the Research and Development Standing Committee, RDSC, of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, has called for the adoption of the one-health concept.
This call was made by the members of the RDSC during its tenth session of its virtual global engagement series, monitored by DAILY NIGERIAN on Wednesday.
The lead presenter of the session, Prof. Oyowole Tomori, a former President of Nigeria Academy of Sciences, said: “once Nigeria adopts this system with full commitment, the approach of One Health, the sector will be revamped.”
Mr Tomori explained that One Health is a “collaborative, multi-sectoral, and transdisciplinary approach — working at the local, regional, national, and global levels — with the goal of achieving optimal health outcomes recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment.”
He said the impacts of applying the concept would enhance, “more interdisciplinary programs in education, training, research and established policy.
“It will also give room to more information sharing to disease detection, diagnosis, research and education, apart from better prevention of both infectious and chronic disease. The approach will also be impactful in the development of new therapies and treatments.”
The health expert, however, noted that for the approach to be effective in Nigeria, various stakeholders must effectively carry out “their respective end of the bargain”.
He said: “The government must adequately fund research and development, enact the right policies, build infrastructure, build capacity and provide a robust monitoring and evaluation system.
“The second stakeholder, which is academia, has to be active in carrying out pre-emptive research, advance product development and training of the requisite manpower. The community, on its part, has to provide information and platform.”
Earlier in his remarks, the executive secretary of TETFUND, Prof. Elias Bogoro, said the proposed National Research Development Fund, NRDF, would largely solve the problems in the sector and many other sectors in Nigeria.
Mr Bogoro revealed that the NRDF document is about to be submitted to the national assembly “for it to become a bill, before it finally becomes an act.”
