Recently, the Federal Government of Nigeria launched the Nigeria Power for Health Initiative to eliminate blackouts in health facilities. The initiative aims to integrate health concerns into the Ministry of Power’s strategic agenda. Also, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nigeria formed an inter-ministerial committee, with each Ministry leveraging its strengths to manage the pandemic and its impacts. Scholars note that the COVID-19 era highlighted Nigeria’s capacity to adopt a deliberate, multisectoral approach to protect and promote citizens’ health.
Although Nigeria has shown the capacity to bring together various sectors to pursue a shared health goal, significant gaps persist. For example, recent security issues affecting health workers and facilities have not been incorporated into a broader nationwide security strategy for the safe delivery of health services. Additionally, Nigeria’s outdated 2006 National School Health Policy reflects poorly on the country’s recognition of schools as key sites for health promotion and an essential part of the health system.
In recognition of Nigeria’s capacity to mainstream health across non-health sectors, as well as when it fails to do so, researchers in urban health at the Health Policy Research Group, under the CHORUS Urban Health Consortium, are seeking to identify what works. This is because Nigeria is experiencing an increase in non-communicable diseases such as cancer, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, mental health conditions, and diabetes, and the health sector alone cannot respond to these issues. There are also concerns about the country’s high maternal and child morbidity and mortality rates, and the health sector cannot bear the blame alone.
In this 5-minute video, produced by the Health Policy Research Group at the University of Nigeria, Ass. Prof Enyi Etiaba and Dr Ugenyi Iloabachie discuss Nigeria’s capacity to mainstream health in all sectors.
Video production by HPRG’s Research Communications Unit
Contact: prince.agwu@unn.edu.ng Cc obinna.onwujekwe@unn.edu.ng
