Challenges of Nigerian Healthcare Services

A Call for System Reform Towards Effective Health Promotion

Abstract

Healthcare system in Nigeria has suffered numerous challenges since inception. Successive governments in Nigeria have made concerted efforts, at various stages of development, to strengthen and achieve quality healthcare system that would ensure effective health promotion for the citizens. These include policies, national health conferences, national health insurance schemes and reforms. These notwithstanding, the health sector are still currently trailed by a lot of challenges, which have made healthcare delivery inadequate, unavailable, inaccessible and unaffordable to many Nigerian citizens. This paper discussed the challenges of Nigerian healthcare services and suggested a call for a system reform for effective health promotion. The paper identified and discussed some key challenges such as problems of policy implementation, financing, workforce, limited institutional capacity, lack of political will, workers’ industrial actions and corruption. The paper equally discussed the various interventions made by successive government of Nigeria, at various stages of development, to strengthen healthcare system. It also highlights the gaps that still exist, which hinder the provision of quality healthcare services in the country, in spite of all the interventions made so far by the Nigerian government. Furthermore, the paper reviewed and interrogated different initiatives and strategies adopted by other countries, with the view to drawing strength from these strategies to make further reforms to address the current myriad of challenges besetting Nigerian healthcare system. Some objectives and strategies were suggested for a further reform.