Nigerians’ poor health due to high poverty – WHO

 

Francis Ukwuije, Technical Officer, Health Financing, World Health Organisation, Nigeria, has blamed poor health care in Nigeria on the country’s very high out-of-pocket expenditure of more than 70 percent, with over 50 percent falling into poverty.

He made the observation in Abuja on Wednesday when a delegation of the first WHO health financing mission in Nigeria visited the management of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).

He assured that efforts were on towards implementing compulsory health insurance in Nigeria, saying that they were important in advancing the development of the country.

Mohammed Sambo, the Chief Executive Officer, NHIA, opined that countries must provide financial risk protection for their people through health insurance in order to attain universal health coverage.

Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, who also received the WHO’s team, explained that an estimated 83 million vulnerable Nigerians would benefit from universal health coverage programmes to make quality healthcare service affordable and accessible.