Renewed Hope Agenda: Health Sector Makes Giant Strides

Renewed Hope Agenda: Health Sector Makes Giant Strides

Nigeria’s health sector is witnessing a silent revolution. From North to South, East to West, the sector is undergoing a rapid transformation through massive infrastructure development and a series of reform initiatives.

So impactful have been the health sector reforms that they secured the attention of the international community.

In acknowledgment of his health reform initiatives, African Union (AU) in 2024
named President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as AU Champion for Human Resources for Health and Community Delivery Partnership.

In the same vein, the Time Magazine this year named the driver of President Tinubu
administration’s health reforms, Prof Ali Pate, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Health Worldwide.

Pate was honoured for revitalising primary healthcare system of the federal government, expanding community health workforces, scaling up maternal and child health services and promoting local production of health commodities.

Affirming the ongoing overhaul of the health sector, Prof Pate recently disclosed that over 500 health sector projects have so
far been executed in 61 federal tertiary hospitals – all within two years of the administration.

Oncology Centres Propelled by the necessity to expand cancer care infrastructure and reduce the growing burden of non-communicable diseases on Nigerians, the administration of President Tinubu resolved to establish cancer centres in different parts of the country.

The federal Global Cancer Observatory (GLOBOCAN) Report of 2022 had stated that Nigeriarecorded over 127,800 new cancer cases with about 80,000 cancer-related deaths. It has also been projected that more than two-thirds of cancer cases
and related deaths will occur in low and middle income countries in 2040.

These report and projection made it imminent for any patriotic government to take proactive steps.

Consequently, the administration had completed and commissioned three world-class cancer centres. These three state-of-theart oncology centres were commissioned in July, this year at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Edo State; University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu State and University of Katsina, Katsina State.

The construction of three more oncology centres are currently underway in Jos, Zaria and Lagos. The centres have been designed to serve 2,000 patients and 350,000 diagnostic clients while 500 clinicians will be trained in the next three years. The minister described the achievements as a bold shift
from rhetoric to action in Nigeria’s healthcare delivery, noting that the sector has seen landmark progress over the past two years.

Universal Health Coverage (UHC)

A major motivation for the administration of President Tinubu’s health sector reforms is its goal to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) that will tackle a range of health issues, including childhood malnutrition and primary healthcare challenges by 2030. In its commitment to achieve this, the administration has created several platforms including National Health Renewal and Investment Initiative (NHRII), Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp) platforms and Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Compact.

The latter is to be pursued by the federal government in collaboration with the 36 states of the federation, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as well as development partners. The collaboration was deemed important in the effort to harmonise previously fragmented interventions and create a more integrated, efficient and self reliant health system.

Nigerian Health Sector Reinvigoration Investment Programme (NHSRII) This initiative was conceived to overhaul the country’s primary healthcare system and boost maternal, reproductive and child health services. It has as parts of its objectives, to identify primary healthcare centres (PHCs) that are not adequately functional and fill the community gaps’ service.

This reform has the mandate to bring healthcare to the doorsteps of millions of citizens and the underserved communities. NHSRII is a strategic blueprint initiated by the federal government to improve population health outcomes through a vibrant primary healthcare system to enhance reproductive, maternal and child health services in the country.

This initiative involves the construction of the state-ofthe- art infrastructure across the country to foster resilient and integrated healthcare system as well as re-training of frontline health workers. Key components of NHSRII include raising the number of existing PHCs nationwide from 8,809 to over 17,600 at the end of 2027; training of 120,000 frontline health workers; doubling the enrolment capacity of accredited nursing and midwifery institutions to make up for imminent demand that will accompany the new facilities; establishing a paid volunteer youth force that will monitor the functioning and financial integrity of these primary healthcare centres.

Of the 120,000 health personnel that the administration planned to train in 16 months, 61,000 including doctors, nurses and midwives had already been trained. The government also introduced a revamped community health programme to create 126,000 jobs in the health sector with a view to “ensuring broader coverage and better service delivery.”

Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF)

In its effort to address the high cost of healthcare and enhance access to PHCs, the federal government redesigned the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) as a foundational element of the sector-wide approach – with pooled and non-pooled financing to advance the primary health
system nationwide. BHCPF has been described as a cornerstone of Nigeria’s UHC journey for the promotion of equity as it will guarantee the establishment of operational PHC facilities in every political ward of the country with the support of functional secondary healthcare centres in each state.

Key Metamorphosis in Health Sector Another set of major transformations that had taken place in the sector are:

• Enrolment in National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) as of December, 2024 rose by 14 per cent, from 16.7 million to 19.2 million;
• Capitation payments to health providers grew by 93 per cent as fee-for-service reimbursements, which covered individual medical services, surged by 378 per cent. This huge expansion has been attributed to improved access to essential health services and reduced out-of-pocket expenses a well as strategic efforts to enhance service quality;
• 14 million girls were vaccinated through the national rollout of the Human Papilloma Virus
  (HPV) vaccines which targeted girls from nine to 14 years;
• 1,100 healthcare facilities upgraded as at May, 2025, with the overall goal to ensure
  the existence of at least one functional PHC in each ward at the end of the year;
• Identification of 174 local government areas where half of maternal deaths in the country occur and consequent inauguration of the Maternal and Newborn Mortality Reduction
• Investment Initiative to tackle the menace;
• Treatment of 1,600 women under the Fistula-Free Programme and offering of free Cesarean sections to 4,000 women;
• Nigeria meeting 31 of 41 key performance indicators across presidential commitments in 2024 and on track to surpass all targets for the year;
• Disbursement of N45 billion to states for operations in more than 8,000 PHC centres in pursuit of PHC 2.0 reforms;
• Training of over 60,000 frontline health workers towards a target of 120,000;
• Cost of dialyses reduced from N50,000 to N12,000;
• 17 states showing notable improvement in modern contraceptive usage, with six states doubling their efforts; and
• Nigeria securing international recognition in healthcare reforms.

Community Health Programme

• The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and National Primary Health Care Developmen
  Agency (NPHCDA) in collaboration with state governments and other partners redesigned community health programme to extend essential health services to remote and underserved communities with a view to improving health outcomes. Consequently, the programme set out to:
• Create 126,000 jobs for community health workers;
• Address issues of reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition, routine immunisation, non-communicable diseases, HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, health data collection, disease surveillance, risk communication and community engagement as well as health insurance;
• Expand Midwives’ Service Scheme (MSS) redesigned across four major areas with recruited skilled birth attendants to enhance maternal and child healthcare nationwide;
• Aid the redeployment of 730 skilled birth attendants to prioritised PHC facilities (in the
  first six months using the eMSS as an interim solution);
• Foster service delivery models for traditional birth attendant referral and midwifery outreach to generate demand and provide maternal and child health services to hard-to-reach communities; and Conduct service readiness assessment across 1,508 BHCPF health facilities to identify service gaps and define interventions required to ensure the provision of maternal and reproductive health services including family planning, post-delivery and miscarriage care, adolescent sexual and reproductive health, maternal health and gender-based violence services.

Automation and Digitisation

• The NPHCDA has developed a comprehensive three-year digitisation initiative on facility operations, supply chain management, financial management and community health information system.

Routine and Polio Immunisation

• Federal government initiated Identify Enumerate and Vaccinate (IEV) strategy to improve the quality of polio campaigns and use of data – with expansion plans developed. Hence, Friedrick Nwabufo, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Engagement, reported:

Synchronised nOPV2 campaigns by the administration with the aim of reaching 38 million eligible children in 20 states;

• HPV vaccination rolled out nationwide with 12,345,572 girls vaccinated across 36+1
  states;
• Launch of diagnostic process to streamline campaigns, enhancing efficiency and inclusivity for diverse audiences;
• That Nigeria joined the Collaborative Active Strategy (CAS) as one of two pilot countries to effectively implement health campaigns and strengthen the nation’s health system; and
• Effort resulting in the establishment of a technical working group tasked with tailoring
  CAS recommendations to align with Nigeria’s priorities and overseeing their implementation.

National Health Workforce Policy

• The incumbent administration in August, 2024, introduced National Health Workforce Policy to halt increasing State-of-the-art Oncology Centre’s infrastructure at UBTH immigration of medical and health professionals from Nigeria and simultaneously bring those operating in the diaspora back to the national healthcare system. Statistics showed that no fewer than 12,000 healthcare workers, leave the country every year. This policy was deliberately conceived to combat brain drain through a deliberate provision of improved working conditions and incentives to retain health professionals at home.

Executive Order on Healthcare Manufacturing

• In June, 2024, President Tinubu signed an executive order on healthcare manufacturing,
  withdrawing tariffs, value added tax (VAT) and excise duties on machinery and necessary raw materials for the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. The executive order also reduces production costs, fosters local production and alters Nigeria’s dependence on costly imports. The order was meant to reduce high costs of drugs and alleviate citizens’ burdens. It came into force in October, 2024 and has enhanced the growth of pharmaceutical companies. The reforms relayed above are aside various landmark health infrastructure being provided across the country and frequently commissioned by the ministers of health.