Challenges and Opportunities in Nigerian Healthcare

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Country Profile
Nigeria comes under the most developed
countries of Africa and it is one of the worst and bad
states associated with the rates of health care.
Tourists are also felt scary to visit Nigeria due to its
exotic beauty. The people of Nigeria are left with very
bad situations and they are not provided with any
support and help. The rate in context to the health
care in Nigeria has mixed rates. The country is having
the mixed form of the
health care system which includes public and private
sectors in respect to the medical care. It has been
evident that the problem of service quality in Nigeria
is one of the most real health challenges in Nigeria.
The prices of the private medical institutions are very
high for the average citizen of Nigeria and the
services provided by them hardly correspond with the
cost charged (USAID, 2019).
In the year 1970, it has been found in Nigeria that the
average life expectancy for men was 37.2 years and
for women, it was 36.7. By starting of 2011 these
figures increased for women to 55.3 and for men, it
becomes to 48.9 that reflects the improvement in the
life quality and medical care. The current life
expectancy in Nigeria is 54.07 years. The life
expectancy of the country has been ranked 216th in
the world and in Africa, it ranked 16th. On making a
comparison, in Japan and China average life
expectancy is 83-84 years.
Looking at the current health issues in Nigeria it has
been evident that there is a very high risk for parasitic
and infectious disease that includes typhoid fever,
diarrhea, malaria, yellow fever in Nigeria. Malaria is a
very common disease and it is found in every area of
Nigeria. Malaria is found at the high-frequency rate in
its intensity in the transmission of Nigeria and due to
this reason despite the prevention more than the rate
of the newcomers is 15% becoming ill. Nigeria is
having a high load of Sickle Cell Diseases and it has
also been found that more than 150,000 children die
from this disease per year. The water of Nigeria is
found to be dirty as the cleaning water establishments
are very poorly sponsored and the quality of the water
is also poor in Nigeria. This results in the diseases.
The primary cause of the disease is the polluted water
as only 57% of populations of Nigeria have the access
to the clean drinking water and rest of the population
does not have access to the clean drinking water that
results into the infectious water and more disease. The
lack of clean water is also a major challenge in
Nigeria.
The main and special issue of Nigerian health care is
AIDS. Nigeria is among the top ten countries of the
world with having the most significant number of
people that are infected with AIDS. In the year 2017,
1, 50,000 people die from this disease. According to
the report about 3, 5 million HIV-infected people are
currently living in Nigeria. And at approx. 33 % of
infected people have to get treatment for this disease
(Aregbenshola., 2019).
Financial and social risk protection for vulnerable and
poor populations is a major policy and development issue
across the globe. Nigeria is having a very small scope of
legal coverage for social protection and besides more
than 90 % of the population of Nigeria is being without
the coverage of the health insurance. The health system
of Nigeria is evolving over the years as the health care
reforms are aiming to address the challenges of public
health. The inability of Nigeria for the effective
addressing the numerous public health challenges of the
country has contributed to the high and persistent
poverty level and weakening health system. Corruption,
instability in the political system, corruption and unstable
economy are the main factors that result in the poor
growth and development of the good health services in
Nigeria. Individuals and Households in Nigeria bear the
burden of the inequitable and dysfunctional health
system. (Echebiri, 2015)
Instead of distinguishing children less than five years and
pregnant women are the only beneficiaries of health
policy in Nigeria under the rates of the fiver mortality
rates that range from 100-150 per 1000 live births. States
in the Nigeria northern region has experienced a much
high rate under the fiver mortality as compared to the
southern region.
Adverse health consequences are related to poor social
and economic development and growth. It is thus not so
surprising that poor indicators of the development have
an impact on the health in Nigeria. The Average life
expectancy is 40 years but Nigeria is having 44 years life
expectancy. The reproductive health aspect of Nigeria is
disgraceful. Deprivations that results in the problems
related to the ill health are very common in Nigeria and it
is having at the high risk. The people of Nigeria do not
get proper support and care due to poor economic
conditions. The health sector of Nigeria is facing the
challenges that include the uncompleted agenda on the
containment of the infectious disease and also the on-
going and rapid emergence of non-communicable disease.
The government must improve the plan to tackle the
major health issues in the country (USAID, 2019). Thus
the factors that are affecting the health system of Nigeria
is the insufficient resources in nation, discrimination,
poor infrastructure, impure water infrastructure and
many more. Corruption, instability in the political system,
corruption and unstable economy are the main factors
that result in the poor growth and development of the
good health services in Nigeria. Individuals and
Households in Nigeria bear the burden of the
inequitable and dysfunctional health system.