The World Health Organization, (WHO), has said Nigeria bears the highest burden of tuberculosis and paediatric HIV, while accounting for 50% of neglected tropical diseases in Africa.
The WHO Country Representative, Walter Mulombo, represented by the Field Presence Cluster Lead, WHO, Ahmed Khedr, made this known on Thursday during the opening of a three-day Conference on “Universal Health Coverage (UHC): How Can Nigeria Get it Right, the Role of the Media”, organised by the Association of Nigerian Health Journalists (ANHEJ) in collaboration with the WHO in Nasarawa state.
He stated that the event comes ahead of the International UHC Day celebration on December 12, 2022, with the theme, “Build the World We Want: A Healthy Future for All” and underscores the need to meaningfully engage critical stakeholders like the media towards accelerating UHC in Nigeria.
According to WHO, more than half the world’s population lacks access to essential health services, and almost 100 million people are pushed into extreme poverty every year because of the cost of paying for care out of their own pockets.
Mulombo explained that Nigeria’s healthcare was financed predominantly by households, who pay for healthcare services.
“With healthcare out-of-pocket expenditure at 70.5% of the Current Health Expenditure (CHE) in 2019, general government health expenditure as a percentage of the GDP was 0.6%, while government expenditure per capita was $14.6 compared with WHO’s $86 benchmark for universal health coverage (UHC),” Mulombo said.
Mulombo noted that although the prevalence of malaria is declining (from 42% to 23%), the country contributes 27% of global cases and 24% of global deaths.
“NCDs account for 29% of all deaths in Nigeria with premature mortality from the 4 main NCDs (Hypertension, Diabetes, Cancers, Malnutrition) accounting for 22% of all deaths.
“While the poorest households feeling the heaviest impact of these inefficiencies and poor health outcomes as they have limited access to essential health services, the negative externalities pose huge losses to the Nigerian economy,” Mulombo said.
Responding, President Association of Nigeria Health Journalist, (ANHEJ), Hassan Zaggi, said most Nigerians live in the rural areas and that poverty was most endemic among the rural people, adding, “This affects their health seeking behavior because of out-of-pocket expenditure.”
He called on government at all levels to take the health of their people seriously.
