Achieving Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria: Moving Beyond Annual Celebrations to Concrete Address of the Challenges

• Published date: 01 March 2020
• Author: Osahon Enabulele
• Date: 01 March 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.328

47

doi: 10.1002/wmh3.328

© 2020 Policy Studies Organization

Achieving Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria: Moving

Beyond Annual Celebrations to Concrete Address of the

Challenges

Osahon Enabulele

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), universal health coverage (UHC)is the or-

ganization of health‐care systems in a way that provides a specific health‐care benefit package to all

members of a defined population, through provision of financial risk protection in the course of

accessing necessary health‐care services. Since the adoption of the concept of UHC by the World

Health Assembly in the year 2005, followed by its adoption in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal

(SDG)Agenda as the eighth target of SDG 3, greater global attention is now focused on the ach-

ievement of UHC. While the successes recorded so far vary in different countries and continents, the

case of Nigeria remains very pathetic. Nigeria's main strategic mechanism for achieving UHC is her

National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which is a contributory social health insurance scheme.

Since the formal launch of the NHIS on June 6, 2005, not more than 4percent of Nigeria's population

has been covered by the scheme. This article is therefore aimed at reviewing Nigeria's progress toward

UHC, with particular emphasis on its challenges, and with some recommendations proffered on how

Nigeria can more realistically achieve UHC.

KEY WORDS: universal health coverage, National Health Insurance Scheme, National Health Act

Introduction

The World Health Organization (WHO)defines universal health coverage

(UHC)as the organization of health‐care systems in a way that provides a

specific health‐care benefit package to all members of a defined population, with

improvement of health outcomes through financial access to necessary health‐care

services, and provision of financial risk protection for members of the population

(WHO, 2010, 2019a).

In declaring the theme for the 2019 World Health Day, the WHO stated that her

choice of the theme: “Universal Health Coverage: Everyone, everywhere”was

predicated on the fact that despite recorded progress in countries in all regions of

the world, “millions of people still have no access at all to healthcare,”and that

“millions more are forced to choose between healthcare and other daily expenses

such as food, clothing and even a home”(WHO, 2019b).

While there now appears to be greater attention and focus on the attainment of

UHC by the WHO and the United Nations, particularly following the adoption of