Lara Adejoro
The World Health Organisation says depriving individuals healthcare should be treated as a human rights violation.
This was stated by the Country Representative of the WHO Nigeria, Dr Walter Molumbo in Abuja during a health walk organised by the WHO Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to commemorate the 2024 World Health Day.
The WHD is a global health awareness day celebrated annually on April 7, to provide an opportunity to focus attention on a health problem or issue that deserves special attention.
The theme for the 2024 WHD is ‘My health, my right’.
According to Molumbo, the WHO was created 76 years ago by Member States based on the principle of human rights and based on the fact that health is a fundamental human right and shouldn’t be a privilege.
He said, “Today is an opportunity to remember that any health deprivation should be treated as a human rights violation. A child missing vaccination is a human rights violation. A mother dying while giving birth is not acceptable and should be treated as a human rights violation.”
The Permanent Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Kachollom Daju, said the ministry is working closely with the WHO to strengthen healthcare delivery in the country.
“We aim towards raising awareness about citizens’ rights to healthcare, and quality treatment, and this underscores the commitment to monitor health through a human rights lens.
“In the present administration of the renewed hope agenda, the health sector is being reinvigorated, it has been re-engineered to ensure that we have Universal Health Coverage for all, starting from Primary Health Care at the community level, all the way to the Tertiary level,” she said.
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