By Henry Uche, Lagos
As part of its global development goals and in line with its “Trade and Aid” policies, the Government of the Netherlands is seeking to support the government of Nigeria in strengthening its healthcare system.
This was made clear in a statement delivered recently by Michel Deelen and Sonia Odije, the Consul General of the Netherlands in Lagos and Economic Policy Adviser & Business Developer, respectively, as the Consulate of the Kingdom of Netherlands, in collaboration with PharmAccess Foundation (the implementing partner for the Government of the Netherlands health-related activities), organised a three-day fact-finding mission to the Netherlands between the 18th-20th October 2022, in view to foster investments in the Nigerian health sector and to transfer capacity, expertise and best practices.
According to the statement, this was the first health mission organised by the Consulate which brought together leaders of thoughts who interacted with Dutch health entrepreneurs, as well as delegation from the private sector healthcare providers, financial investors and public sector officials.
In a remark, the Director, International Entrepreneurship at the Dutch, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Marc Hasselaar, revealed that as world economies become more globalised, individual countries are proposing new guidelines to strengthen national and global health security.
According to him, the Government of the Netherlands, as part of its global development goals has established a policy directive to structure the support it provides to the healthcare sector, globally to ensure that its global health efforts are more strategic.
“The recently published Dutch Global Health Strategy 2023-2030: “Working together for health worldwide” aims to contribute in a coordinated and targeted way to improving public health around the world,” Deputy Consul General of the Netherlands in Lagos, Leonie Van der Stijl, who joined the fact-finding mission said this on the international healthcare outlook: “healthcare challenges have become increasingly global, multidimensional and complex.
“The Dutch Global Health Strategy focuses on strengthening global health architecture and systems, especially for primary care and sexual and reproductive healthcare and rights. As Africa’s biggest economy, the state of affairs in Nigeria often reflects issues and opportunities that exist across the continent. That is why this mission is so important.”
On its part, PharmAcces Nigeria shared findings from the Nigeria Health Sector Market Study. The objectives of the study included ‘To provide deeper insights into the opportunities in Nigeria’s health sector and to position Dutch firms as Nigeria’s innovative partners for Life-Science-Health (LSH) opportunities.’
Commenting on the report, Loretta Aniagolu, Managing Partner/CEO of FIT Consult Ltd, stated that “the study provided by PharmAccess Foundation was very useful in validating our own studies, particularly the breakdown of the expenditure of each state on overseas and private healthcare treatment”.
The report is scheduled to be disseminated in December 2022 and it will provide deeper insights into the market entry strategies for Dutch companies looking to leverage investment opportunities in Nigeria’s health sector.
The delegation went on-site visits to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Delft Imaging Systems, established in 1925 has a long history of developing innovative imaging solutions that improve the quality of people’s lives.
Guido Geerts, the Chief Executive Officer of Delft Imaging, brought the delegates up to speed on some of the innovative solutions they had developed using digital x-rays and CAD4TB to improve TB screening, especially in hard-to-reach areas. Recall, the World Health Organization (WHO), around 245,000 Nigerians die from tuberculosis (TB) and about 590,000 new cases occur every year.
At the Philips Innovation Centre in Eindhoven, the latest consumer healthcare products were showcased and the Nigerian delegation took part in live demonstrations of some of the medical equipment.
“We saw how easy it is to deploy technologies that will guarantee our nation’s health in future. This is not limited to equipment, we also have innovative software and financing solutions that address our current needs in Nigeria” said Edward Mwingi, Philips Indirect Channel Manager, West Africa
Functional healthcare systems cannot operate in isolation, and to deliver the maximum benefit, they need to work effectively as part of a wider ecosystem that includes a well-trained workforce, funding to pay for health services, diagnostics and therapeutics. During the visit to Invest International, which has a shareholding that includes the Dutch Ministry of Finance (51%) and FMO (49%), a triple-A bank, they delegation learned how the organisation supports in making investments feasible for Dutch solutions that address global challenges.
According to Njide Ndile, PharmAccess Nigeria, “There are opportunities to leverage investments through funders such as Invest international who also support and fund governments for systems building, in addition to making access available to the private sector”.
TNO Innovation for life, the Dutch hybrid innovation institute, develops products and services in various fields which includes nutrition construction material, renewable energy, health and digitization.
Senior Business Developer for Child Health & Innovation for Development, Yvette Fleming, and her team explained how the organisation was finding smart solutions to complex issues. The team shared an example of how they were finding solutions to the issue of nutrition and creating employment opportunities, with flying foods.
Innovations in bioengineering were presented at TU Delft, the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university in the Netherlands and viable opportunities were discussed for collaboration in relevant research and development with institutions in Nigeria.
The university has existing partnerships with the University of Lagos and the University of Ibadan. Researchers at the university presented diagnostic innovations that can address neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in low-resource settings. Nigeria contributes about 50% of the African burden of NTDs.
This was the first-ever fact-finding mission with delegates from Nigeria exploring healthcare innovations in the Netherlands, and delegates agreed that the trip was very valuable in expanding their knowledge about advances in health technology and treatment. However, there was agreement that future fact-finding missions should include visits to pharmaceutical companies.
The need for public-private partnership solutions, with counterpart funding, are some of the financing solutions that need to be explored according to the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi. He made it clear that in Lagos, they were pushing to ensure they “work smart”, leveraging multiple sources of funding to deliver one standard of healthcare that is benchmarked against international standards.