The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said that Nigeria should accelerate the rollout of a robust national health insurance system to reduce the country's high out-of-pocket healthcare spending.
Nigerians pay an estimated 77% of their healthcare expenses out-of-pocket — one of the highest rates in the world according to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and in sharp contrast to this a National Institute of Health (NIH) survey reveals that less than 5% of Nigerians have health insurance.
Africa CDC director general Jean Kaseya has said that Africa’s reliance on direct household payments remains a major threat to equitable healthcare access. Dr Kaseya was recently speaking at Nigeria’s Joint Annual Review organised by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in Abuja.
Dr Kaseya said, “Poor people are paying the most. You cannot deal with out-of-pocket with donor assistance. You deal with out-of-pocket by putting in place a national health insurance scheme.”
He stressed that Nigeria would only reduce the burden through large-scale health insurance coverage. “You cannot deal with out-of-pocket with ODA. You deal with out-of-pocket by putting in place a national health insurance scheme,” he said, urging Nigeria to draw lessons from Rwanda experience, where community-based health insurance has significantly expanded coverage.
The Africa CDC chief further said the biggest challenge facing African health systems is not merely a shortage of money, but the inefficient use of existing resources. He said that fragmentation, weak governance and poor planning are costing African countries between 20% and 40% of their health budgets.