NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

A CRITICAL APPRAISAL

Abstract

Nigeria’s health insurance progrmme is geared towards ensuring availability and accessibility of healthcare services to all the citizens. Unfortunately many people in Nigeria do not enjoy robust health today. Nigeria’s healthcare sector is bedeviled by several infectious disease outbreaks year after year resulting in the death of many. Five areas that particularly affect the people’s health have been identified as: reproductive health/maternal mortality, poverty, hunger, the burden of several communicable infectious diseases outbreaks (HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria) and non-communicable diseases. These health challenges threaten the people’s well-being and productivity. Many reforms which entail purposeful changes and planning have however been introduced yet it has become increasingly clear that these reforms have not contributed significantly in improving the nation’s healthcare and thus have not been of meaningful benefit. This scenario has in no small measure hampered sustainable Socio-Economic development in Nigeria. To address this problem, this paper anchors on Social Exclusion theory, which emphasizes lack of inclusive participation in health and social activities as its core element and strongly argues that the failure of the Nigerian nation to provide certain individuals and groups with those rights and benefits normally available to its member is responsible for the failure of health policies and programmes in the country. The paper therefore recommends that spending more on primary health care, organizing enlightenment campaigns on health programs/reforms, empowering citizens through education, zero tolerance for corruption, and inclusive health care provisioning will help usher sustainable development in Nigeria.