2024 World Health Day: Oyo govt tasks residents on health rights

The Oyo State government has charged residents of the state to prioritise their standard of physical and mental health as their individual right to life.

Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi, a medical doctor and the state’s Commissioner for Health, stated this on Friday, at an event organised to commemorate the 2024 World Health Day, held at the Ministry’s premises.

Speaking on this year’s theme, ‘My Health, My Right,’ she noted that health is an individual right that every human being must enjoy regardless of race, gender, socio-economic status or geographical location.

She maintained that due to health challenges in the world, it has become imperative to ensure that every individual enjoys the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

Ajetunmobi added that human beings must also have the autonomy to make decisions that affect their health and well-being, with regard to access to healthcare services, making informed choices about lifestyle behaviours or advocating for policies that promote health equity.

The commissioner, who appreciated the state governor, ‘Seyi Makinde, for his support in delivering quality healthcare to residents of the state, said the theme of the 2024 World Health Day aligned with Omituntun 2.0 Agenda on health policy with special attention to Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

She said: “The theme of the 2024 World Health Day, “My health, my right,” aligns with Omituntun 2.0 Agenda of His Excellency, Governor ‘Seyi Makinde, that gives special focus to Universal Health Coverage (UHC), which ensures that all individuals have access to essential healthcare services without financial hardship, quality healthcare, improving healthcare infrastructure, equipment, and personnel to provide high-quality services, health promotion and disease prevention, by encouraging healthy lifestyles, vaccinations, and early detection of diseases.”

She added further that other aspects of focus are “equity and inclusion: Ensuring equal access to healthcare for all, regardless of gender, age, or socio-economic status, and community engagement and participation, by encouraging citizens to take ownership of their health and participate in healthcare decision-making.”

Ajetunmobi added that “to ensure the citizens’ rights to health are guaranteed, the present administration under Governor Makinde, has strengthened the capacity of the Oyo State Health Insurance Scheme for wider coverage, as the rising rate of enrolment has been unprecedented.

“The governor has also renovated over 200 PHC facilities across the 33 LGAs in the state for the overall benefit of the people of Oyo State.

“Furthermore, to prevent the outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases and other epidemic-prone diseases, the present administration has improved the capacity of the Local Immunization Officers through training and retraining and has equally trained 309 PHC workers on the One Health Approach to epidemic management.”

The commissioner enjoined the people of the state to recommit themselves to the pursuit of health equity and social justice, work tirelessly to dismantle the barriers that prevent individuals from exercising their right to health and build a world where health is truly recognised as a universal human right and where every individual has the opportunity to thrive and fulfil their potential.

In their separate goodwill messages, the Oyo State Coordinator, World Health Organisation (WHO), Zorto Philip and the Permanent Secretary, Oyo State Hospital Management Board, Anifat Ibrahim, charged people to be health-conscious, ensure regular medical checkups, avoid self-medication, maintain safety and hygiene environment and always be ambassadors of good health.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary, Oyo State Ministry of Health, Akintunde Ayinde, said human rights to health issues are very important, because they are based on accessibility, affordability, acceptability, quality of health and equity in health care services, which according to him, are well captured in the Omituntun 2.0 Agenda, without any financial burden.