The Ogun State Government, in collaboration with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), has inaugurate the Health Systems Sustainability Task Force to strengthen resilience, ensure coordinated service delivery, and promote government ownership of critical health functions.

Speaking during the inauguration in Abeokuta, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, who chairs the Task Force, said the move was necessitated by the disruptions caused by the suspension of U.S. Government global health funding earlier in the year, which exposed vulnerabilities in Nigeria’s health system and affected essential services such as HIV, Tuberculosis, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (RMNCH), and malaria interventions.

Dr. Coker, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Kayode Oladehinde, explained that the Task Force would coordinate government and partner response efforts, drive accountability, develop sustainable mechanisms to address systemic bottlenecks in service delivery, workforce, health financing, commodities and data management.

She noted that the multi-stakeholder platform would provide decision support to the Governor and Executive Council while ensuring that lessons learned are documented and shared with other States and National platforms.

The Task Force, according to her, would advocate for high-level political commitment, conduct a situational analysis of the health sector and establish technical subcommittees on service delivery, human resources for health, health financing, supply chain, health data systems, and health security.

The Commissioner emphasised that the Task Force would report periodically to the Governor and engage with the Federal Ministry of Health to align State actions with national priorities, reaffirming the government’s commitment to building a resilient system capable of withstanding future shocks and ensuring uninterrupted services for the people of Ogun State.

“The task before us is enormous, but I am glad that this initiative reflects the State Government’s vision to achieve sustainable health for all Ogun residents through stronger coordination, adequate financing, and institutional accountability across all levels of the health system,” she added.

In his goodwill message, the State Coordinator of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Mr. Solape Folarin, described the initiative as inevitable for sustaining the gains of the various health programmes evident in Ogun State and called for the inclusion of all stakeholders in the health sector to achieve the outlined objectives.

The Executive Director of the Youth Future Savers Initiative (YFSI), Mr. Tayo Akinpelu, who spoke on behalf of Civil Society Organisations in the State, assured of meaningful contributions towards ensuring that the Task Force delivers effectively on the assignment it has been saddled with.