The problems of Healthcare in Nigeria

WHO estimates over 500,000 deaths from malaria every year in Africa. Many of the issues Nigerian health system is mostly faced in the rest of Africa.

Questions: What then does the new Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari, have to do in order to tackle the persistent problems regarding the Nigerian’s public health infrastructure?

Nigeria is ranked lower than war-ravaged countries such as Iraq and Congo, with a mortality rate of 86:1000. This can be used as an economic indicator (The Problem With Healthcare In Nigeria - Health - Nairaland, 2017), as today, Africa faces a very unique set of healthcare challenges, and in most West African countries, the following are the disease that are accounted for, for the numerous deaths in Nigeria, plague, cholera and measles. Introducing antibiotics, immunizations and good quality primary healthcare can assist in decreasing the rate of these diseases.

Health problems that many Western Countries face are associated with chronic diseases such as cardio vascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and chronic diseases. On the other hand, in the whole of Africa, infectious diseases remain a significant problem, and Nigeria is of no exception. In addition, the economic development of parts of the world, mostly in African countries, including Nigeria, contributes to an onslaught of non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer. This adds as a threat, and therefore actions must be taken to address this.

Many Western countries have made a fundamental error in addressing the healthcare problems in Africa, and Nigeria is of no exception. They focus on providing treatment for illnesses instead of health maintenance, and indeed, it leads to unnecessary arguments on “sick-care system”, rather than “health care system”.  For example, the United States spends an estimated amount of $trillion annually on health care, and yet, America fails to achieve the best healthcare outcomes in the world. Furthermore, the United States spends hundreds of billions of dollars annually to treat preventable illness and diseases.

People fail to realize that Increase in healthcare spending does not produce better healthcare outcomes, and that a great and unnecessary proportion of healthcare funding is spent treating preventable diseases and illnesses.

A study conducted by Harvard University revealed that a preventable mobile health program returned $36 in savings on healthcare cost for every $1 spent on prevention. Creating a culture of health as opposed to focus on illness requires a commitment to prevention. Nigeria needs to focus on preventing diseases and injuries as it is the most effective and common-sense way to improve health.

The Nigerian healthcare problems are diversified, thereby increasing the approaches and theories on improving millions of Nigerians current access to basic healthcare. Decreasing the healthcare cost, and providing universal healthcare coverage in Nigeria will be a significant factor for improving its healthcare system (Orekunrin, 2015).

REFERENCES

1.      Orekunrin, D. O. (2015, July 11). Nigeria’s Healthcare Problems: A Three Pronged Solution. Political Matter. Retrieved from https://politicalmatter.org/2015/07/11/10769/

2.       The Problem With Healthcare In Nigeria - Health - Nairaland. (2017, January 26). Nairaland Forum. Retrieved from http://www.nairaland.com/838022/problem-healthcare-nigeria