The Nigerian health sector: its challenge on maternal and child mortality. Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa with over 160million people, Male population is greater, with 85,898,305 men, representing 50.87% of the total, compared to 82,935,471 or 49.12% women(1). The life expectancy is 53/55 for male/female respectively, whereby the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011 was 5.3%, while in the same year the total expenditure on health per capita was 139$(2). With this large growing population, and the increasing life expectancy, the GDP is expected to continually rise as well. The recurrent expenditure on health as at 2008 was 98 million Nigeria Naira (3). Nigerian health system The government created the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) which was launched in 1999 to ensure that every Nigerian has access to good health care services (4). In a bid to strengthen the health system, National health policy (NHP) in 2006 was embraced to create a convincing health financing system capable of meeting the goals of improved health status of Nigerians; financial protection of citizens against the cost of illness; fair financing of health services; and responsiveness to the citizens’ expectations. This plan includes the implementation of a re-designed National Health Insurance System (NHIS). However, since implementation of the National Health Insurance System, only 5 million Nigerians can readily access care through the NHIS. Use of NHIS services is lower among low-income groups and young people, which is because the programs that target these populations still have not been introduced or fully incorporated into the NHIS system. Thus, while it appears that coverage has been extended greatly to the population, there are st... ... middle of paper ... ...mes Nigeria. [cited 2014 Apr 28]. Available from: http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/152371-2014-nigerian-government-must-improve-health-sector.html 12. WHO Country Cooperation Strategy: Federal Republic of Nigeria 2002-2007. World 13. Mooney GH. Equity in health care: confronting the confusion. Eff Health Care. 1983 Dec;1(4):179–85. 14. Poverty in Nigeria: Rich Country, Poor People [Internet]. Poverties.org. [cited 2014 Apr 28]. Available from: http://www.poverties.org/poverty-in-nigeria.html 15. Dussault G, Franceschini MC. Not enough there, too many here: understanding geographical imbalances in the distribution of the health workforce. Hum Resour Health. 2006;4:12. 16. Oxman AD, Fretheim A. Can paying for results help to achieve the Millennium Development Goals? Overview of the effectiveness of results-based financing. J Evid-Based Med. 2009 May;2(2):70–83.
Shi L. & Singh D.A. (2011). The Nation’s Health. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Despite the established health care facilities in the United States, most citizens do not have access to proper medical care. We must appreciate from the very onset that a healthy and strong nation must have a proper health care system. Such a health system should be available and affordable to all. The cost of health services is high. In fact, the ...
A health care system that provides free health care services to its entire citizen can be termed as universal health care. This is a situation where all citizens are protected from financial costs in health care. It is recognized around the globe as it provides a specific package of benefits to all citizens in the entire nation. For instance, free health care can result to improved health outcomes. In addition, it provides financial risk protection and an improved access to health services. There is an increasing debate on how citizen should be provided with free medical services. Although United State does not permit free health care services it should have free health care for all citizens. This is due to the fact that healthcare is the largest industry in United State. Due to the fact that United State is a rich country, it should have a healthcare system that provides free services such as treatment for its entire citizen. This will play a significant role, as it will stop medical bankruptcies in...
In the United States the distribution of physician’s workforce is not regulate by geographical locations. Physicians can elect how and where to work, resulting in an unbalance of health care professionals in every location around the country. Rural communities normally have less physicians, nurses, specialists, and other health care staff, and the lesser population, making the loss of a physician a bigger impact.
...onditions in an inner-city or a rural community in the United States” (8). Most of the countries in Africa there are well over 50% of people below their poverty line. For an example, Lusted states, “In developing regions, extreme poverty is usually defined as earning less than $1.25 a day. In the United States, extreme poverty means earning less than half of the official poverty line” (10). But Africa isn’t the only country struggling with poor people. Poverty and Homelessness by Merino writes, “...3.7 percent in Denmark, 5 percent in Finland, 5.5 percent in Norway, 6.9 in Slovenia, 7 percent in Sweden, 7.2 percent [in] Hungary, 8.3 percent in Germany, 8.8 percent in the Czech Republic, 9.3 percent in France, 9.4 percent in Switzerland” (32). Poverty is a struggle all around the world and thousands of people die each day due to the lack of basic necessities to live.
According to the preamble of the WHO constitution, the “right to health” should be attainable for all and is a fundamental right that is to be facilitated by governments who are held responsible for its citizens. Across the globe, this right to health is facilitated through different models of health care systems such as the Bismarck, Beveridge, National Health Insurance, and Out-of-Pocket models which reveals its subscribers concerns of the health of its people. Each model has unique characteristics and attempts to fulfill obligations to its peoples which includes respecting its people’s right to health, protecting rights to health including and fulfilling its people’s highest attainable standard of health through supportive legislation and
The US health system has both considerable strengths and notable weaknesses. With a large and well-trained health workforce, access to a wide range of high-quality medical specialists as well as secondary and tertiary institutions, patient outcomes are among the best in the world. But the US also suffers from incomplete coverage of its population, and health expenditure levels per person far exceed all other countries. Poor measures on many objective and subjective indicators of quality and outcomes plague the US health care system. In addition, an unequal distribution of resources across the country and among different population groups results in poor access to care for many citizens. Efforts to provide comprehensive, national health insurance in the United States go back to the Great Depression, and nearly every president since Harry S. Truman has proposed some form of national health insurance.
Woolf, S. & Braveman, P., 2011. ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY: Where Health Disparities Begin: The Role Of Social And Economic Determinants—And Why Current Policies May Make Matters Worse. Health Aff, 30(10).
Humans have greatly impacted the global environment. Throughout the course of history, human populations have rapidly increased. Especially in Africa, these numbers have reached extraordinary proportions. Out of all the continents in the world, Africa’s population is increasing the most. The type of growth here is exponential. “Overpopulation is a condition when an organisms numbers exceeds the carrying of its ecological niche.” The growth rate of a population is equal to the birth rate minus the death rate. Therefore, for overpopulation to occur, the birth rate must surpass the death rate (Wiley). The current population of Nigeria is estimated to be 155,215,573. Most of the population consists of the younger generation. More specifically, 41% of the population is between the ages of 0-14. 56% of the population is between the ages of 15-64. However, only 3.1% of the population is 65 and over. This age group represents a very small part of the population. (CIA)
May 9, 2001 African Networks for Health Research and Development; retrieved Dec. 9, 2003 http://www.afronets.org/archive/200105/msg00035.php.
The question to be answered in this paper is to what extent has the resource curse affected the Nigerian economy and government? Resource curse is a term that states the observation that countries that have a plethora of natural resources (e.g. oil, coal, diamonds etc.). usually have unstable political and economic structures (Sachs, 827). Nigeria is categorized as a nation that has succumbed to the resource curse as it has an abundance of, and an overdependence on, oil, and a decreasing gross domestic product (GDP) (Samuels, 321-322). Nigeria is known for its specialization and overdependence on oil and according to Ross, nations of such nature tend to have high levels of poverty, large class gaps, weak educational systems, more corruption within the government, and are less likely to become democracies (Ross, 356).
In Nigeria the doctors lack the adequate amount of experience needed to tend to the needs of their patients. The tools used there are outdated compared to those used in the US. The medical students and doctors prefer to continue their practice in other countries rather than staying in Nigeria because they do not believe they will be very successful in that country. There is a major lack of confidence in the health care there in that country.
Newman, Constance. "Time to address gender discrimination and inequality in the health workforce." Human Resources for Health, vol. 12, no. 25, 6 May 2014, PMC. doi:10.1186/1478-4491-12-25. Accessed 4 July 2017.
Corruption in the Niger delta region of Nigeria has led to abject poverty in the state. State governs in the Niger delta are making living unbearable for the indigenes of state by embezzling public funds for their own purposes. For example in the New York Amsterdam News Guthrie Gray mentioned that “Despite its new wealth, however, the money allocated to Niger delta states does not appear to be getting to most of its citizens” (Guthrie Gray). The means of lively hood in the states has been destroyed by corrupt oil companies and public officers. People in the state can no more farm and fish because their land and water has been destroyed by the oil companies in the area; however, some funds are released by oil companies and the federal government but the government of the Niger delta have refused to put the funds to good use because they are corrupt. They prefer to use the funds for their own benefits, buying houses overseas and having numerous foreign accounts. For about 35 years Oil Company in the Niger delta has refused to give to the community good infra...
NIGERIA AND THE PATH OF ECONOMIC PROSPERITY. Economic development is a term that economists, politicians, and others have used frequently since the 20th Century. The concept, however, has been in existence in the West for centuries. The term refers to economic growth accompanied by changes in output distribution and economic structure. It is concerned with quality improvements, the introduction of new goods and services, risk mitigation and the dynamics of innovation and entrepreneurship.