By Omaska A Jallah

Monrovia- To Enhance Health Sector, Civil Society Organization partners with ” Save The Children”.
Amidst the relative low budgetary allotment to the health sector, a civil society organization Partnership for Sustainable Development (PaSD) in collaboration with the ‘Save The Children’ has concluded a conversation with members of the House of Representatives, especially members of the House’s Committee on Health, craving for additional budgetary support for the health sector.

During the conversation with members of the committee yesterday at the Capitol Building, the head of the group, David Flomo justified that once budgetary allocation for the health system is increased and properly accounted for, there will be access to quality health care.

According to him, in 2001, the African Union conference convened a summit of heads of governments in Abuja, which it was declared that 15 percent of their respective national budget go to health sector, a declaration he said has caused an upward trend in Liberia’s budget in 2017 and 2018 but still not enough.
Flomo maintained that in Liberia, the ability to deliver health services, particularly in the most remote communities continues to be a problem, noting that Liberia is behind many other West African countries in terms of yearly allocation to health “this puts significant pressure on households to spent their limited recourses on health, deepening their poverty level and limiting their access to life saving maternal, newborn and child health services,” he said.
He said improving healthcare service delivery system is vital to achieving the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) b 2030 as proposed in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ultimately saving the lives of more children.

PaSD Boss noted that the Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Alliance of Liberia (SUNCSAL) and Partnership for Sustainable Goals (SDGs) are working on a health program that advocates for increased financing and investment in the health system of Liberia through budgetary allocation.
He acknowledged that the weakness of Liberia’s health system was exposed during the Ebola outbreak in 2014, quoting the Ministry of Health 2014 report as saying “Liberia has one of the highest maternal mortality ratio in the world, with 1,072 deaths per 100,000 life birth.”
Speaking on behalf of the House’s Committee, its Chairman, Joseph Samwarbi assured the group that his committee, through the Legislature will do all possible to see reason to make increment in the health budget, adding that he and other members of his committee are aware of the maternal mortality rate in Liberia.