The Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, has won the Ethics Resource Centre Outstanding Health Leadership Impact Award by the Independent Award Committee of the centre.
Adewole bagged the award in recognition of his outstanding and visionary leadership support that inspired health sector agencies to work together to implement the Medical and Health Practitioners Security Project as an interagency and multi-stakeholder initiative.
The project, which involves publication and distribution of medical and health practitioners security manual, capacity building programmes and various other initiatives, was launched to empower health practitioners with precautionary, preventive and mitigation skills and tools required to respond to security challenges including rising cases of kidnapping.
The project, which kicked off with the National Conference on Securities of Hospitals and Health Practitioners, was jointly organised with the support of the Federal Ministry of Health, Nigerian Police Force, and Federal Road Safety Corps.
Five health regulatory agencies, six health associations and one medical and health workers union are also involved.
In the statement it issued to announce the award, the Ethics Resource Centre spoke about the significance of the decision of health sector leaders to come together to address a common security challenge, despite professional differences.
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The statement reads: “It provides the much needed synergy, collective action and team work needed to successfully combat security threats inherent in the current reality of health workers becoming targets of choice for criminals and kidnappers.
“Their collective action towards enhanced security will promote improved and sustained healthcare service delivery. It will reduce relocation of medical and health workers away from insurgency and kidnap prone environments and improve access to healthcare.
“The disruption of primary healthcare facilities and services, including vaccination programmes, will also be curtailed. Attention of Governments and hospitals will be focused more on healthcare delivery rather than reacting to security breaches.
“In the final analysis, enhanced security in the health sector will make for progress towards achieving the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on healthcare delivery.”
The body said it was for because of some of the strategic reasons mentioned that Adewole was highly commended for exhibiting visionary leadership insight in inspiring and supporting the interagency and multi-stakeholder approach to the project.