Sterling Bank Plc has hinged its foray into the health sector on the current poor state of the sector in the country and the consequences of this on the citizens coupled with the need for public- private collaboration for adequate repositioning.
The sponsorship of the programme came barely two days after the Bank was commended by President Muhammadu Buhari for its commitment to supporting the current administration’s initiative to provide qualitative and affordable health services to Nigerians through strategic partnership with the Ministry of Health.
The Bank in a press statement signed by its Chief Marketing Officer, Mr. Henry Bassey, explained that the sponsorship of the innovation challenge is designed to compliment the federal government’s drive towards improving healthcare services in the country.
He further emphasized the Bank’s interest in a cleaner healthier environment for Nigerians “as demonstrated in our Sterling Make-Over (STEM) initiative which continues to reinforce our conviction in a cleaner and more prosperous nation”.
The Bank expressed optimism that the Challenge would contribute to helping Nigeria make progress in the areas of vaccination coverage among young children; check contraceptive prevalence rate among Nigerians; increase Vitamin A coverage among children of between six months to five years of age and promote the use of insecticide-treated bed nets by children under five amongst others.
While assuring that the Bank would continue to support all efforts to reposition the health sector, he stated that “we are already providing financial and logistics support to operators in the sector across the value chain and would focus on the entire ecosystem of the health sector”.