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Public hearing on health bills

The Senate Health Committee, chaired by Senator Ibiapoye Martyns Yellowe conducted public hearing of two bills relating to HIV & AIDS and Reproductive health. Both bills when passed would be significant landmarks to USAID Implementing Partners and other international donor agencies that are working in Nigeria.

ENHANSE Project is very much engaged with relevant federal government ministries and agencies in driving the national response to HIV & AIDS and the formulation and dissemination of policies on reproductive health.

The bills were introduced as:

1. ‘An act to establish the National Institute of Reproductive Health (NIRH) to provide for among other things the improvement and sustenance of the practice of sexual and reproductive health in Nigeria,’ and
2. ‘A bill for an act to provide for the establishment of the national agency for the control of HIV & AIDS and for matters connected therewith.’

Both bills had prominent sponsorships. The Presidency, which sponsored the HIV & AIDS control bill, is seeking to obtain legal backing for the National Action Committee against HIV & AIDS (NACA). The new law when passed would establish NACA as the National Agency for the Control of HIV & AIDS placed under a Presidential HIV & AIDS Council. The new agency would have a governing board that reflects the multisectoral nature of the HIV burden, and exercise expanded powers and functions as befits an agency including fundraising, policy development, coordination and control of all activities related to the national response to HIV & AIDS in Nigeria.

The NIRH bill sponsored by Senator Daisy U. Ehanire-Danjuma (Edo South), a member of the Senate Committee on Health, sought to create an institute that would drive research and policy recommendations, and coordinate activities directed at improving the health status of Nigerian mothers and children. Senator Danjuma had strong support from Honorable Saudatu Sani (Rep. Lere Federal Constituency, Kaduna), Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Women Affairs.

The hearing of the NIRH bill generated passionate debate from proponents and opponents alike, and just barely escaped being withdrawn. This was because of a pre-hearing media misrepresentation as an abortion bill. ENHNASE staffs participating in the hearing were among those who opposed the withdrawal of the proposed bill. Eventually the bill was stood down, instead, so that it could be reworded and redrafted to capture the essence of the bill. The new bill will bear a title that calls for the establishment of an institute that would promote maternal and child survival in Nigeria. A subcommittee was raised at the hearing to further work on the bill. It would ask for input from the Federal Ministry of Health and other stakeholders who were yet to do so.

The AIDS control bill had no problem scaling through the public presentation, but had a little hitch of its own. There were two versions of the proposed bill in circulation – a 2005 version and an earlier one from 2004, which was eventually used for the hearing. Stakeholders will now send in their comments the committee for consideration.

Also in the gallery

• Population and reproductive health network launched
• Advocacy visit promises new OVC opportunities in Kaduna
• Teaching small businesses about workplace AIDS policy
• National palliative care guideline development workshop
• Public hearing on health bills
• The cost of a national OVC plan
• Journalists focus on upcoming census at workshop
• Nigeria, USAID Launch New Partnership Project for Quality Health and Education Policies and Programs