Lara Adejoro The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate has lamented that developing countries like Nigeria continue to lose their highly trained health professionals to developed countries that did not invest in their first professional education. He made this assertion on Tuesday at the 77th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, noting that half the world’s population is experiencing deprivations of access to basic health care. The 77th WHA with the theme, ‘All for Health, Health for All’, is being held from May 27 to June 1, 2024.
The minister, in a speech posted on his X handle, said the theme for this year’s WHA resonates with Nigeria’s Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative whose goal is to save lives, reduce pain, and produce health for all Nigerians. He said The COVID-19 pandemic had laid bare the vulnerabilities in health systems, both in developed and developing nations and has challenged countries to rethink the connection between access to health and social justice. Pate said, “As the world emerges from the pandemic, we would have thought that the sobering lessons of the pandemic reignite our determination to build political will, reinforce global solidarity, refocus on addressing global inequities, and invest in the global commons.
“No country can be an island in this hyperconnected world, facing serious threats from infectious diseases, climate change, and leadership dysfunction perpetuating devastating .
