Nigeria’s health system remains among the worst-performing globally. In 2019, the Legatum Institute ranked Nigeria 162 out of 167 countries in terms of health performance. Nigeria’s recent move to lower-middle-income country status is causing development partners to exit the health sector. One plausible reason for this stagnation is underperformance in the country’s primary health care (PHC).
The 2018 National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) shows that common preventable diseases such as malaria, diarrhea, and malnutrition are major causes of morbidity and mortality in children. Under-five mortality rate is 132 per 1000 live births while the maternal mortality as of 2017 is 917 per 100,000 according to Index Mundi. Antenatal care attendance and delivery by skilled health providers are 61% and 38% respectively and only about a quarter of children are fully vaccinated. Nigerians have an average life expectancy of 52.62 years.
According to Trading Economics, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Nigeria per capita was worth 410 billion US dollars in 2019. The GDP value of Nigeria represents 0.34 percent of the world economy. According to data from the World Bank, it shows that as of 2017, total health expenditure as a proportion of GDP was 3.76% and out-of-pocket payments represent over 95 percent of health expenditure.
This report looks into the country’s health system, the challenges, budgetary implementation, corruption and mismanagement, weak institutions, especially in the rural areas. This report also makes some recommendations on how the Nigerian health sector could be revamped.