I’ll engage private sector to unlock sector’s potential – Atiku
I’ll engage private sector to unlock sector’s potential – Atiku- Implementation of a mandatory health insurance scheme to cover at least 40% of the population within two years my priority – Tinubu
- I’ll implement National Health Act of 2014; allocate 15% of annual budgets to improving sector. Pregnant women, children, the aged and disabled will benefit from health insurance cover targeting 133 poorest Nigerians – Obi
By Kazeem Biriowo
In their campaign manifestos to occupy the presidency, the three front-running Nigerian presidential candidates in the 2023 general elections stated their various plans to revamp health sector in the country.
From Africa Health Report (AHR) checks, the health sector revamp policy in the manifesto of candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, stated that he will unlock the market potential of the sector by engaging the private sector.
This according to him will “Accelerate Nigeria’s transition towards achieving universal access to affordable and quality healthcare services for all by 2030”
“Expand healthcare professionals to the frontline and attract Nigerian doctors in the diaspora to reverse brain-drain”.
On his part, the candidate of All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu stated declared he will focus on the “Implementation of a mandatory health insurance scheme to cover at least 40% of the population within two years and Support the allocation of about 1% of pooled health insurance funds to health research.
Meanwhile the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi in his manifesto said his government will “provide health insurance cover to 133 million poorest Nigerians including pregnant women, children, the aged and the disabled; Implement the National Health Act of 2014 and of course allocate 15% of annual budgets to the improvement of health sector.
Health policies in Nigeria have undergone tremendous evolution in the past 60 years but without the desirable quality of healthcare delivery system in place to advance the health status of Nigerians.
While successive governments have made concerted efforts to promote health equity and ensure unrestrained access to health services, majority of the citizens are still grappling with various health challenges.
These challenges are copiously reflected in the current World Health Organization (WHO) statistics where maternal mortality is among the highest in the world accounting for 19% of global maternal deaths.
The estimate of infant mortality rate in the country is 19 deaths per 1000 births with mortality among children under 5 at 128 per 1000.
Furthermore, the average life expectancy of Nigerians is estimated by the World Health Organization to be 54.4 years with women having a life expectancy of 55.4 years and men having 53.7 years.
These dismal health indicators have necessitated the call from researchers and other stakeholders for the Nigerian government to consider creative ways of responding to healthcare issues in the country.
The triple health sector revamp scenarios pushed by the three presidential front runners can only find real and measurable meaning in their implementation.
Will the more familiar political rhetoric Nigerians are used to be transmuted to genuine game-changing policies? Big question.
