Last week, Dataphyte published its analysis of Nigeria’s performance on Goals 1 and 2 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Goal 1 of the SDGs is No Poverty, while 2 focuses on achieving Zero Hunger.
As noted in the previous report, the 17 SDGs were adopted in 2015 by the United Nations (UN) to address various global challenges and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
However, from the report published by Dataphyte last week, there are indications Nigeria may not attain Goals 1 and 2 of the SDGs by the year 2030 because of the given slow progress being recorded. This worry is not just limited to Goals 1 and 2, its performance on SDG 3 also raises concerns.
READ ALSO: Poverty and Hunger: Any Progress on SDG Goals 1 and 2 in Nigeria?
Goal 3 of the SDGs is Good Health and Well-being. The essence of the goal is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. The UN considers this very essential to sustainable development.
Similar to the other goals of the SDGs, Goal 3 has several targets and indicators. Targets specify the goals, and indicators represent the metrics by which the world aims to track whether these targets are achieved.
In this report, Dataphyte examines Nigeria’s progress in several selected indicators and compares it again to the performance of Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. The chosen indicators are based on data availability for each country and the recency of the data.
Indicator 1: Hepatitis B incidence per 100,000 population
Hepatitis B incidence is the number of new cases of hepatitis B in one year per 100,000 people in a given population.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) describes Hepatitis B as an infection of the liver caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). According to WHO, the infection can be acute (short and severe) or chronic (long term).
Hepatitis B is highly contagious and can spread through contact with infected body fluids like blood, saliva, vaginal fluids, and semen. The WHO further stated that the infection can also be transmitted from an infected mother to her baby during childbirth.
The good thing is that Hepatitis B can be prevented with a safe and effective vaccine.
The goal of UN is to combat Hepatitis B in all countries by the year 2023. It is however important to state that the targeted level of reduction for this is not defined.
Nonetheless, the share of children under 5 years of age with an active Hepatitis B infection in Nigeria stood at 2.94% in 2020. This was a drop from the 4.12% record in 2018.
Except for South Africa, with 3.1%, Nigeria has the greatest proportion of its children under 5 years old with active Hepatitis B. Ghana has 2.13%, while Kenya has just 0.40%, the smallest among the countries under review. There is no available data for Egypt on this indicator.
Among the four countries, South Africa and Ghana’s figures increased from what they were in 2018, while there’s a decline for Nigeria and Kenya.
Indicator 2 Neglected tropical diseases
By 2030, the UN targets to end the epidemic of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in all countries. NTDs are a group of infectious diseases that primarily affect populations living in tropical and subtropical regions of the world.
They are referred to as “neglected” because they predominantly affect the poorest and most marginalized communities and are perpetuated by social, environmental, and economic conditions. According to a report, NTDs affect more than 1 billion individuals globally.
The 20 NTDs as identified by the WHO, are captured in the table below.
According to Our World in Data, 65.46% of Nigerians require intervention (treatment and care), at least against one of the NTDs. In Ghana, 53.51% need an intervention. Then in South Africa, data shows 28% of the citizens need care and treatment against NTDs.
In Kenya and Egypt, the figures are pegged at 16.54% and 2.73%, respectively.
Indicator 3: Prevalence of tobacco use
This indicator measures the share of people aged 15 and older who currently use any tobacco product, whether smoked or smokeless tobacco. This includes both people who use tobacco on a daily basis as well as those who use it on a non-daily basis but have used it at some point.
Data shows that as of 2020, 3.7% of people aged 15 and older use one form of any tobacco product or the other. This is a slight reduction from the 3.9% prevalence in 2019.
In Ghana, the percentage of the population using tobacco products is lesser than in Nigeria. According to the data, only 3.5% of the people aged 15 and above use or have used either smoked or smokeless tobacco products.
The figures are higher in Kenya, South Africa, and Egypt. As of 2020, they had 11.10%, 20.30%, and 40.30%, respectively.
Except for Egypt, there is a downward trend in tobacco usage in the other four countries.
Indicator 4: Development assistance to medical research & basic healthcare
This indicator focuses on the total net official development assistance (ODA) to medical research and basic health sectors.
According to Our World in Data, ODA refers to flows to countries on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and to multilateral institutions which meet a set of criteria related to the source of the funding, the purpose of the transaction, and the concessional nature of the funding.
Among the five countries under review, Nigeria has received the highest inflow for medical research and basic health sectors.
In 2020, Nigeria received $508.18 million as total net ODA for medical research and the basic health sector. Kenya followed with $210.46 million and Ghana $120.74 million.
South Africa and Egypt received $48.23 million and 27.89 million, respectively.
It is worth pointing out that the amount Nigeria received in 2020 is higher than the combined amount received by the other countries. For the most part of the period under review, it was the same.
On a per capita basis for 2020, Nigeria had the highest inflow for medical research and basic health sectors. The country received $40.48.
Egypt and Kenya followed with 37.52 and 24.39, respectively. South Africa and Ghana received less than $10 per capita for medical research and basic health sectors in 2020.